Light, Flames, and Darkness
by Alice Evangeline Bae Gracey
Summary: Once upon a time, there were two brothers. One walked the path of Light, the other the path to Darkness. With the Darkness now rising again, as a threat to all worlds, Kairi and Lea have to work together with Sora, Riku and Mickey to try and put a stop to everything. With a new rabbit ally at their side, and adventures awaiting them, the fate of the worlds rest in their hands...
1. The Invitiation

_Thinking of you, wherever you are.  
We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend.  
Now I will step forward to realize this wish.  
And who knows:  
starting a new journey may not be so hard,  
or maybe it has already begun.  
There are so many worlds, but they share the same sky-  
one sky, one destiny._

* * *

**Taken from the notebook of Yen Sid, Keyblade Master:**

A long time ago, there were two brothers. I learned of their strength at heart and their skill, and so, I approached them, asking them if they would like to be my apprentices in wielding Keyblades, the mystical weapons of the heart. Both brothers accepted this request, and in short time, they were under my wing, living with me in my Mysterious Tower near Twilight Town. Both brothers proved to be capable fighters, strong at heart as I had expected, and quick and swift in learning how to use their new found weapons and capabilities. But, alas, if only I could have seen what would happen to these brothers...

The eldest brother was beginning to find that his younger brother was becoming more capable and more skilled than he. In learning this, he became far more persistent that I train him more, teach him more than I was teaching his brother, and I began to notice that jealousy was finding its way into his heart. It was a terrible thing to witness- this elder brother, this young boy that had told me that he had made a promise to protect his brother, was beginning to feel inferior to him.

Of course, I insisted that they learn at the same pace, but I did offer him more advice than I did his younger brother, who didn't seem to notice. The jealousy and the greed that festered in the older brother's heart began to overtake him, and I realized, admittedly, far too late, that he was beginning to become infested with darkness in his heart.

I suppose at the end of it all, I should have seen it coming. The older brother sought out a way to become stronger than his younger brother, and realized that, with darkness, he could do far more than he had ever imagined. The younger brother felt betrayed, and tried to reconcile with him, but... alas. A war between the two broke out and before I knew it, they were battling in the midst of their emotions, of envy, greed, love, devotion, regret, compassion and sorrow. For me, it was very hard to watch from my tower as my two apprentices fought like I had never intended for them to do. In the end, the battle ended in a draw, and the older brother fled to places unknown.

As for the younger brother, he stayed with me in my tower until it was time for him to go. From that moment on, he wished to destroy all darkness in the worlds, praying that somehow, he could fix his older brother, and save his heart. He once asked me if it was a good cause, if it was a cause that was worth fighting for, a cause worth traveling for.

I only told him this:

"... One day, I hope that the two of you walk side by side once more. Not as fellow apprentices, but as brothers, as you once were. It is my fault that this has occurred, and do not feel guilty for what transpired. I believe that one day, you will save your brother. I can only hope it will be in the way that you wish to happen."

- Yen Sid

* * *

The sun beat down on Destiny Islands like it always had, and the wind blew through the trees as it always had. The ocean kissed the beach and the children played on the Island. Three older ones, however, a group of teenagers, sat sprawled across a bent over tree, admiring the sea together.

Sora, Riku and Kairi were not like the others on the beaches of the Children's Island. They had traveled to other worlds and places, visited people on other worlds and fought evil, saving them. They had traveled into children's storybooks and into computers, swam with the mermaids and flown with a boy who had never grown up. They fought alongside - and with - pirates, and helped stop a war. They spoke with animals and helped overcome curses, and they met Santa Claus. They had done things that no other child on that island had done, and to them, it was something that made them special.

Sora, of course, was the main instigator of the list that they had collected. He bore a large, toothy grin as he stared up at that sky, and pointed in a direction.

"You see that way?" he asked his two friends, "I bet you 100 munny that in that direction is the Land of Dragons, where my friend Mulan lives." He pointed in another direction, this time to his left. "And that way is the Neverland, and the Olympus Coliseum."

Kairi now pointed in a direction, this one more to their right. "And what about there?"

Riku scoffed. "That one's easy, Radiant Garden, right?"

"Yep! And also Beast's Castle, can't forget that one!" Sora added with a chuckle. "Nice guess, Riku!"

"Heh," Riku laughed a little. "Thanks."

There was a silence for a moment as the three of them shared a laugh, each of them enjoying the time that they had together. For a while, neither of them had each other- instead, they were alone among the worlds. Sora, of course, had Donald and Goofy, who had quickly become as important to him as Riku and Kairi. Riku had become friends with their King, King Mickey. However, Kairi had been all alone for most of it. She hadn't minded at the end of it all, as she was pleased now to have her friends by her side, anticipating her own training to be happening for her wielding of a Keyblade of her own.

Riku and Sora had taken the Mark of Mastery Exam recently. In the end, Riku was the one that had passed, becoming a full-fledged Keyblade Master, much like Mickey and Yen Sid. For the moment, the three of them were enjoying a break before it was time for Kairi to undergo training, and Sora to train for a make-up exam.

It was their seventh day together on the island. It was interrupted by an envelope floating its way slowly down into Sora's line of vision.

"... What?" he questioned, grabbing the envelope. "Hey, guys! Look at this!"

Both Kairi and Riku gave hums of confusion as they sat up to investigate Sora's request. All three laid eyes on the envelope made of parchment, a wax seal featuring a moon and a star keeping it closed. Sora visibly gulped, worried about the contents.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Riku asked. "Open it, Sora."

"Yeah!" Kairi agreed. "Let's find out what's inside."

"Right," Sora voiced, slowly opening the envelope.

Inside, was a letter, of course. Very carefully, written straightly across the parchment, were words written in a green ink. Sora noticed that the writing was slanted slightly to the right. Written was:

_To Sora, Kairi, and Riku: _

_The King wishes for me to advise you on the latest occurrences. Allow me to be very curt with what is happening._

_The Heartless is moving in once more, and neither the King nor I know of the culprit. The worlds are being attacked one by one, and there has been a total of three casualties, all of which we have successfully managed to evacuate the worlds before something drastic and terrible had occurred to its inhabitants. He wishes for me to forward a message._

_The three of you are to meet him on the world Radiant Garden, where a council is going to occur featuring the World Leaders and the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee... and you. In this council, discussions will be placed concerning the current disastrous events involving the Heartless- and the Nobodies- as well as possible movements to counter the effects. The King would like for the three of you to attend this meeting. _

_At dawn on your eighth day on the islands, a gummi ship shall arrive to pick you up. It is advised you be on the docks on your Island by then._

_I shall see you soon, as shall the King._

_- Yen Sid_

"Is he for real?!" exclaimed Riku. "We just got home, we just got used to sleeping in beds, eating prepared food, not having to battle Heartless every hour, and seeing our friends and being with our parents, and he decides to strip us of that... again... for some stupid committee meeting?"

"But Riku, this is important..." Kairi started.

"Well, yeah, I get that, but Riku's right! We should just be jumping in and attacking!" Sora agreed, nearly flinging the letter from his hand from his sudden movement. "It's worked so far! I mean, I've saved _how _many worlds with that plan?"

"I think it's a good idea," Kairi stated, jumping down from the tree and facing her friends. "It's a smart thing to do. If we discuss what we need to do before we do it, then we have a better plan of action and we're not jumping in blind. It's typical politics, and it's tactful. I bet the King thought it up! Any King would!"

Riku and Sora exchanged glances that spoke their disinterest in having to sit through a committee. Riku shrugged, letting out a sigh. "I guess we don't have much of a choice, Yen Sid is pretty insistent."

Sora sighed as well and looked down at the letter in his hand. His eyes focused on the mention of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, and a burst of excitement appeared in his heart. "Well, hey, if we go, we get to see Leon and the others again... So, I guess it's not _all _bad..."

"Heh, true," Riku agreed, pushing Sora slightly. "I guess that's one thing for you to look forward to. The King would be there, too."

Kairi smiled, feeling happiness that they were agreeing in the idea... somewhat.

* * *

The next morning at dawn, the three of them were sitting alone at the docks on the children's island. Their eyes were focused on the sky above them, staring blindly into the sky that was still dark. Stars shined all around them as the sunrise began to peek over the water in the distance. Anyone glancing at them without knowing who they were would assume they were there to enjoy the sunset. However, if they were Tidus, Selphie, or Wakka, they would know what the three of them were doing there- they were waiting, waiting for a ride to another world.

A burst of light shone from the darkness in the sky, and a ship began to lower itself down before them. Kairi let out a gasp of excitement of the sight before her, and Riku let out a smile. The gummi slowly approached them and finally stopped before the docks, and the door opened up, revealing on the other side, none other than Donald Duck and Goofy.

"Donald! Goofy!" exclaimed Sora, and the three of them attempted to glomp each other in excitement. In the end, the victor was Goofy, who succeeded in knocking over Donald and Sora right onto the their backs on the wooden planks.

"Sora!" Donald yelled. "It's so good to see you!"

"We've been anxious about seeing you again!" agreed Goofy excitedly. "In fact, we even offered to pick you up!"

"Can you believe it?!" the duck continued, as they released Sora from their hold. "Leon wanted to send Cid to come pick you up, and not us!"

Sora chuckled as his reply, and soon, the five of them were boarding the gummi ship and heading off into the distance, toward Radiant Garden.

If any of the people of the islands noticed the ship, no one made a comment. The women watered their gardens and took care of their children, the men sat idly on their seats and read the newspapers, and a few businessmen and businesswomen headed off to their work. The mayor of town simply looked up at the sky, judging the weather, and the children headed off to school. All in all, it was a typical everyday moment for everyone else.

... especially for Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

* * *

_Once upon a time, there were two brothers.  
They grew up together,  
and they played together,  
and they fought together.  
But, when they gained their keyblades,  
the two brothers picked very different paths.  
One walked the path of Light,  
and walked to his glory.  
The other brother walked the path of Darkness,  
and vanished from the worlds, never to be seen again._

* * *

**_Journal Entries:_**

**_YEN SID  
_**_A powerful being that trains potential Keyblade wielders. He trained and examined the King himself, as well as Riku and Sora. He will be training Kairi soon as well, and soon, his knowledge with the Keyblade and the darkness will be put to good use in the upcoming committee meeting._

_**RIKU  
**A Keyblade Master, as named by Yen Sid after his Mark of Mastery Exam. Being friends with Sora and Kairi, he traveled across the worlds and fought alongside Sora to defeat the evil Xemnas. He wishes to take down this new potential threat, if it is one._

_**SORA  
**__A hero of many worlds, yet he let darkness affect his heart and thus, sadly failed his Mark of Mastery exam. Coming up soon, he has a make up one, but he intends to put that aside to help dissolve this new threat, with his flawless plan of running in without one._

_**KAIRI  
**A dear friend of both Riku and Sora. She is a Princess of Light, as well as a Keyblade Wielder. She will soon take up apprenticeship with Yen Sid to learn how to properly use it. She intends to help this time around with defeating the enemy... whether her friends like it or not._

_**THE TWO BROTHERS  
**A long time ago, Yen Sid taught two brothers in the ways of the Keyblade, but, unfortunately, the two brothers were separated by their different capabilities. One walked the path of Light, and the other walked the path of Darkness, separating themselves from each other drastically. Whatever happened to either brother is sadly unknown.  
_


	2. Committee and Milo Thatch

When Yen Sid said that there would be a committee, Sora, Riku and Kairi didn't expect a turn out quite like this.

The audience hall that had been built inside of the Radiant Garden castle was massive. Tables and chairs were set up much like a college classroom, except... bigger. At the front of the council room sat a long table with multiple chairs going along it. In the center, sat Yen Sid himself, stroking his long gray beard with his eyes closed as he considered the matter at hand. On both sides of him sat King Mickey and Queen Minnie, who were glancing at each other quite worriedly as they patiently waited for the meeting to start. Other people sitting at the long table were Leon, Cid, Merlin, the seven Princesses (consisting of Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Alice, Jasmine, Belle and Kairi), and finally, a webcam, microphone, and a speaker stationed at the very end.

... Sora had yet to figure out why there was a set up quite like that at the end of the table. Seeing as he had been set to sit right in front of it with Riku, it was somewhat jarring. Other people in the room, he found, as he looked up at the other chairs set up along the rows, were people that he knew, and people that he didn't know. The lions of the Pride Lands were set up at the top, grooming away and not seeming to care, that is, except for Simba, who glanced down with a worried glare at him. Elizabeth Swan from Port Royal sat regally in her own seat, dressed up remarkably like a pirate, flanked by Will Turner and a somewhat sober _Captain_ Jack Sparrow. Aladdin was sitting along one of the rows with the Genie, and Jane Porter from the Deep Jungle was all alone as she sketched away in her own seat. Jack Skellington had arrived with Sally and Dr. Finklestein, sitting in a far corner in the room away from everyone else. There was one man, who seemed more like a lanky professor with glasses, that was working on decoding a somewhat thick journal with a weird letter on the front of it. The room, in all, was quite full, and Sora unfortunately didn't have the time to glance at everyone, for Yuffie behind him suddenly poked him.

"Hey!" she started, "Stop daydreaming, it's about to start! Oooo, I hope this is over soon..."

Sora looked up at the front of the room, seeing that Yen Sid had stood up now and was raising his arms high in the air to gather the attention of everyone in the room, which suddenly silenced, save for the hum from the webcam.

"Fellow dwellers of the Light," Yen Sid began, "welcome all to Radiant Garden. I have brought you all here today to discuss... this."

With this, he turned to the wall behind him, which suddenly flashed, revealing that it was, in fact, a screen. Pictured on the wall was a map of the Worlds, with a few crossed out with a somewhat glaring red cross mark.

"And what, dare I say, is that supposed to be?" asked the still somewhat hung over Jack Sparrow.

"What you see here is a map of our homes, and you will notice, some have been crossed off," Yen Sid continued. "These are, in fact, the worlds that the Heartless have already destroyed with their dark capabilities. The worlds are, as listed, the following: The Big Blue, Monstropolis, and, finally, Deep Jungle."

Sora had never been to the Big Blue or Monstropolis. Learning of two worlds that he had never been to had been destroyed made him feel somewhat sad that he would not be able to visit. However, hearing that Deep Jungle had been destroyed caused his eyes to widen from shock and his heart to lurch. He even thought that he heard Jane Porter in the back sob slightly.

"King Mickey and I believe that the next target is this world right here..." And here, Yen Sid placed his finger along a world that Sora recognized- Wonderland. "This world here, known as Wonderland, is home to one of the seven Princesses of Light, young Alice. We believe that this world is the target simply because of a pattern that Cid's friend Tron had noticed."

And here, the picture changed to one featuring the destroyed worlds and the un-destroyed being connected by a line of dots.

"_As you can see here, the worlds are connected by one factor,_" came a sudden voice from the speaker in front of Sora, causing him to jump slightly. He recognized the voice immediately- Tron. "_The worlds are connected by a series of lines that connect all worlds- in a way, it connects all of us. The Heartless first attacked the world of the Big Blue, which is connected to a world that the Nobodies had resided in recently- the World That Never Was._"

The Big Blue and the World That Never Was were both suddenly circled by a light blue line.

"_Monstropolis, in turn, was connected to the Big Blue, as were other worlds like Ant Island and the Highlands, however, these worlds were left untouched by the Heartless. After Monstropolis was destroyed, the Heartless moved onto another that was connected to it, similarly, to the left, which was Deep Jungle. Using this pattern that they seemed to use, I have created a theory that has yet to be proven... and that theory is that the Heartless will attack the world connect to Deep Jungle... on the right, which is Wonderland._"

"And we're going to believe the words of a disembodied voice?" questioned someone from the high right. Sora turned around to see who it was, seeing that it was a strange, feminine creature sitting next to the lanky professor.

"Captain Amelia," came the voice of Leon, who was sitting next to Tron's webcam, microphone, and speaker. "Tron is a valuable member of the Restoration Committee, and for the record, he is unable to leave his world unlike you and I. Please, remain silent and let him continue."

Captain Amelia silenced, crossing her arms and sitting back down. Sora found a smug smile coming to his face.

"... _Thank you, Leon,_" came the voice of Tron once more, and Sora noticed a slight change in its tone, one that showed his disappointment in Captain Amelia's words. "_As I was saying, Wonderland is the one that is currently my idea of the Heartless' next target, but seeing as it is just a theory, we should be cautious. The other choice in the matter would be Olympic Coliseum and, considering it's rather large reputation of Heartless visiting, it is also a possibility._"

"Thank you, Tron," stated Yen Sid, and he began once again. "The Heartless, as you may see, is rising once again. Nobodies have also been spotted in the Land of Dragons and Agrabah. With this knowledge in mind, it is in our best interest to devise a plan of action to best confront this threat."

Mickey now hopped up onto the table. "I propose that we set up teams of three, and scout along the worlds. The more information that we know, the better it is to devise a final plan of action."

"_In that case, it would be best if the teams of three each included a Keyblade wielder or two,_" Tron added helpfully. He almost sounded chipper, clearly having gotten over Captain Amelia's words of a "disembodied voice" rather quickly. Sora was impressed. "_The Keyblade, as I have noticed, is the only weapon clearly capable of defeating a Heartless and returning it to Kingdom Hearts. If a weapon other than a Keyblade was used, well, suffice to say, that Heart will never be returned to its rightful owner, rendering them... sadly... gone for good._"

"Tron is correct," Yen Sid added, nodding and crossing his arms. "Are there any objections in this statement of proposal?"

"I... I object!" stated the lanky professor, as he stood up, placing his hand on his extremely thick book. He fixed his glasses and tried his best to ignore a glare from Captain Amelia next to him. "Um... Uh... Mr. Yen Sid, Keyblade Master and overall champion in the usage of the Keyblade... is this idea of splitting up... really the only plan of action that we have?"

"What are you proposing, Mr. Thatch?" questioned Queen Minnie.

"I propose this plan of action: The Keyblade Wielders leave Radiant Garden, selected into groups of three, and they gather the information. Those of us less able to fight, unable to fight, or unchosen by a Keyblade stay here and gather information learned by the Keyblade wielders. Then we, here stationed in the world of Radiant Garden, devise plans of actions, or even weaponry, to better fight the Heartless."

Sora was impressed, but not enough. The idea that only a small amount would be going out after the Heartless was unappealing.

Mr. Thatch began to skim through his journal, finally landing on a page. "There is a passage written here in my grandfather's journal, which he had written during the time of the Two Brothers. He wrote that he realized what had caused the separation between the two blood brothers and learned something truly startling about the embodiment of darkness in the heart- it can be cast out, by either a Cornerstone, a Princess of Light, or a Keyblade of Light. A Keyblade of Darkness, however, would only make it worse. Perhaps we can use this knowledge learned from the mistakes made by the Two Brothers... _to our advantage_..."

"Nonsense!" spouted out Jack Skellington, startling everyone as he got up from his seat and rushed over to Mr. Thatch. "Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense! The Two Brothers?! That was a mere mistake, yes, but it was not a wise one that we need to use to our advantage as such!"

Sora timidly raised his hand, gathering the attention of a somewhat saddened Yen Sid.

"Yes, Sora?"

All eyes turned to him. Captain Amelia raised an eyebrow and Mr. Thatch noticeably gulped. Jack Skellington lost his somewhat scary look and replaced it with one of wonder, the look that Sora admittedly liked on him better than anger.

"Um... well... call me stupid, but what is the Two Brothers?" he asked.

"_The Two Brothers, Sora, refers to something that had happened in known history. It occurred roughly eighty or so years ago, approximately between the worlds of Twilight Town and Disney Town,_" Tron explained, taking the eyes of Sora and to his webcam. "_Ansem's reports refer to the event as one that separated the purposes of the Keyblade, and one that had all Masters learn from the mistake of the one in the tale..._"

Here, Tron took over the usage of the screen once more, taking down the pictures of Heartless and the Worlds, and putting up ones that seemed to be art depictions of the tale of the Two Brothers. Sora looked up in awe, noticing the art had been done quite beautifully.

Depicted in the picture, was an old man looking down on two small boys.

"_The identities of the brothers and the Master in question were never discovered by Ansem,_" Tron explained, "_However, he clearly studied the story somewhat widely, and learned quite a bit about the tale. Supposedly, two boys were selected by a Keyblade Master to train under his wing, and as the boys grew, they became brothers. Some versions of the tale have them as twins, or even half or step brothers. The relationship between them is very important, as what happened next is very upsetting..._"

The picture turned into one that depicted one of the brothers covered in a black smoke. A few of the women in the room gasped out loud, and Sora could hear one of them was Aerith. Kairi was one of them as well, and she placed a hand over her mouth in shock.

"_One of the brothers turned to darkness to overcome the strength of his brother. Most versions of the tale feature this brother as the older one- the one that should have been wiser about his choices. The younger brother was later forced to fight him, and in the end, the battle always ends with a draw. Eventually, the brother that had turned to the darkness fled into the night, leaving behind his Master, and his brother._"

"What happened to them?" Kairi asked.

Tron was silent for a moment. He didn't reply until he took down the picture. "_... No one knows. The story never tells if they reunited or not. I can only assume that the two never saw each other again, which is somewhat... saddening, I suppose._"

"That's a horrible story," decided a young girl with black hair sitting next to Stitch. "Who writes a story about family and has it split up in the end?"

"_History,_" Tron answered simply. "_There is evidence that this story actually occurred in history. However upsetting that it is, it is something that we have to face._"

"If you don't learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it," Yen Sid quoted. "And with that in mind, I shall consider Milo Thatch's proposal. For now, committee dismissed."

* * *

"How come we never heard of this whole 'Two Brothers' hype?" Riku wondered, as he walked through the halls with Kairi and Sora. "I have never, never, ever, ever, heard of this story in all my years on Destiny Islands."

Kairi giggled somewhat. "Obviously because on our little island, it didn't really matter. We were kind of detached, after all."

"To be honest," came a sudden voice from behind them, startling them. "I never heard of it either, until I read it here."

The three of them turned around sharply to see Milo Thatch fiddling with his glasses and holding his grandfather's journal close.

"Oh, it's you!" exclaimed Kairi. "Milo Thatch, right? Snow White said that was your name."

"She's correct, then," Milo replied, now digging through his bag. "And about the Two Brothers, it is merely a legend. I'm not sure if your computer friend is right about it actually happening in history, but as far as my grandfather was concerned, it really did happen. I'm unsure myself, as this is the same man that insisted Atlantis existed on our world, but..."

"And did it?" Sora asked curiously.

"Well," Milo was silent for a moment. "Well, yes, he was right about that. I recently helped discover it, actually. But, the point is, that most people considered my grandfather insane, so I'm not sure if I can trust everything in his journal. However..." And here, he stroked his chin curiously. "... If we can piece together what occurred when the two brothers clashed their blades against each other..."

"What's the significance of that part of the story?" Riku asked all of a sudden. "This is the first mention of it."

Milo began flipping through his book again and showed a line in the book. "Here, right here, in the story. My grandfather mentions here that when the two brothers clashed their blades on the part of the earth against each other, their light poured out of them and formed a ball of light, which from that time forward, protected their home world from darkness. After that final battle, the brother of darkness never returned home again, because of the light of the world was too great for him, and so he couldn't return."

Kairi once again sighed out of sadness, placing a hand over her heart. "... That story is just so depressing. That little girl in the committee is right. Two brothers torn apart like that..."

"All because one wanted to be stronger than the other," Riku scoffed, unimpressed, "So he gave into the darkness and doomed his brother to a life without him. Horrible."

Sora sighed irritably. "I still don't get it... Why would he do that, just to be stronger?"

"My grandfather had a theory," Milo proposed. "Most versions of the story feature the brother that became dark as the older one. My grandfather supported that. In his theory, he spoke that the older brother wished to be stronger so that his younger brother wouldn't have to fight- however, when it turned out that the younger brother was stronger than he was, the older one began to feel jealous."

"So, all in all, the older brother had good intentions, he just kind of blew them out of proportion," Sora pieced together. "... Okay, I think I get it now."

Milo nodded. "Yes, I suppose so. However, most of his notes on the matter are untranslated, and I'm still working on it. Give me some time, and I'll have more information for you."

Kairi smiled and nodded, turning to her friends. "Maybe Yen Sid can give us more information."

* * *

Said response to the query was Yen Sid slamming a big wooden door in their faces. Kairi huffed out of annoyance, but Riku just shook his head.

"... Should have known," he voiced, wandering off.

Sora glanced in his direction, reaching out toward him. "Wait, Riku!" And with that, Sora rushed off after him. "Riku...!"

Kairi huffed again and considered her options. "Well, the King probably doesn't know anything, and Yen Sid isn't telling me anything, and Milo still needs to translate those notes... What does this story have to do with all of this...?"

"What, the story of the Two Brothers?" came a sudden voice. Kairi turned to it, seeing Lea standing there, dressed in his old clothing. "How about we dash off to Wonderland and see for ourselves?"

"You want to steal a gummi ship and head to Wonderland, without permission?" Kairi asked, somewhat skeptical. "With me? Sora and Riku wouldn't allow it."

"Well, it's not like we're going to be gone long," Lea offered with a slight chuckle. "Just a quick zip down to Wonderland, checking out the problem, maybe find a clue or two, then heading back. Simple as that."

Kairi put a hand to her chin, and looked down at the floor. She considered her options once again.

Sora had been on two wild adventures so far, and that wasn't including a few mini journies like his Mark of Mastery Exam. Riku had been on wonderful adventures as well, and so had the King. Then, there was Kairi, who's only job practically in their little group was to sit at home and wait it out. She looked up at Lea, a smile on her face as she nodded and held out her hand.

"Well, then, Lea, I hope you'll protect me. I'm not good at fighting yet and I do want to come back in one piece," she told him.

"Princess, it will be my honor," Lea said, shaking her hand. "Let's get to it."

* * *

_- The Big Blue is the world that featured "Finding Nemo".  
- Monstropolis is the world that featured "Monsters, Inc". _

**_Journal Entries (Of those important to this story)_**

_**KING MICKEY  
**__The king of the world of Disney Town, or Disney Castle to some. He traveled through the worlds for unknown purposes for a long time, and trained under the watchful eye of Yen Sid. He intends to help destroy the Heartless threatening the worlds, for he knows that it will lead him to something very important... But what?_

_**TRON**_  
_A computer program befriended by Sora some time ago. Sora had taught him about friendship, and since then, his personality has evolved ten fold. He fully backs up Sora with anything that the young Keyblader wishes to do and will always side with him. It appears, however, that he has picked up some of Cid's snark._

_**MILO THATCH**_  
_A young researcher that studied a place called "Atlantis". His grandfather has visited many worlds in his journeys and recorded them in a coded journal, which young Milo is always trying to translate to read. He wishes to aid in the defeat of the heartless, hoping that one day, he can visit other worlds as well._

_**LEA  
**A fellow keyblade wielder. Sometimes his ideas take him a little over his head, but sometimes he has good intentions behind them. Where is he hoping to go, however, by jumping into a journey like this one with the Princess of Light?_


	3. Kairi and Lea Get into Trouble

_**WONDERLAND**_

* * *

Maleficent turned to face the being with her.

"... and you promised me," she continued, having obviously been stating something to him, "... that they would never find him again. Then why... why does it seem that... that in the not-so-distant future... that I will be facing him again?"

The figure before her turned to look away. "... Need I remind you, that there is nothing I can do against Fate?"

* * *

Yen Sid stared out at Radiant Garden beyond his window. Everything seemed pretty calm at the moment, but something told the old wizard that something drastic would be occurring. Something... different than most events. Something was going to come back, something that was thought to be long lost and forgotten. Something that he dreaded seeing again, simply because of what he had caused. Something dark, something that was once light. Something dangerous.

All Yen Sid could do was hope that the Light was strong enough, like it had once been.

* * *

The Gummi Ship that Kairi and Lea had taken from the hangar had been designed and made by Cid from the Restoration Committee, with a small tad of advice from Tron. Lea had chosen it for its red paint job and simply because there were enough seats for him, Kairi, and maybe Sora and Riku for later. A small argument broke out between Lea and Kairi over who would be driving, but eventually, Lea won the argument.

Kairi then decided that Lea would never drive again.

The ride had been choppy, but not because the gummi ship was low-equipped. From what Kairi had understood about Gummi Ships, the vessel they had chosen had actually been really well designed and ran smoothly. It was the _driver_ that needed work. By the time they had arrived at Wonderland, Kairi decided that she didn't want to ever ride in the passenger seat when Lea was driving ever again.

Kairi had never been to Wonderland. In fact, there were quite a few places she had never been to that her friends had visited before. She enjoyed the view for a moment of the strangely coloured and shaped plants, and looked up at the sky to see the sun beating down on the gardens before her. Lea bumped her in the side with his elbow, stepping into her vision then, a wide, toothy grin on his face.

"Hey, Princess, let's get going, shall we? The Heartless aren't going to wait for us!" he joked, rushing off ahead.

Together, the two of them traversed through the area, trying to find some way of finding the Heartless or something to link what was happening between the worlds. Kairi was also interested in finding out more about the story that everyone kept bringing up when discussing what was happening around them, for the connection to her didn't seem to be there. The two of them slowly walked through the strange forest, where they came across some Heartless, but managed to dispatch them.

"Man, if we don't find a lead, this will be a boring trip," Lea decided. "We have to find out what the Heartless want around here.."

"You're looking for Heartless? I know someone who's a heartless!" came a sudden voice.

Kairi and Lea turned sharply around to look behind them, seeing a short man with a big nose and a big hat sipping a cup of tea. This was the Mad Hatter himself.

"... She's heartless, and she's the Queen of Hearts!" explained the Mad Hatter. "I tell her of a strange portal that appeared in the gardens by my tea party, and do you know what she tells me?"

Kairi muttered for a moment. "Um... No?"

"She tells me to dismiss it, then almost decides to go OFF WITH MY HEAD! A horrible, dastardly fate, if you ask me," the Mad Hatter went on. "Well, allow me to start at the beginning, and then when I get to the end, I'll stop. So, it starts with a windy day and I'm having my hourly tea, when all of a sudden, all these strange, black creatures started arriving even when I hadn't invited them! They're streaming out of this strange hole in the ground near my tea table, and I decided that this was something bad. So, I went to the Queen, but she said 'Off with my head!' and so I went here."

Lea decided very quickly to rush off toward the smell of tea. Kairi decided to follow him. The Mad Hatter was a little strong for their taste.

* * *

"_Attention, attention! Unauthorized Gummi Ship departure!_"

Cid, Leon, Sora, Riku and the King rushed to the Gummi Ship hangar as soon as they heard the news. However, they were far too late. Kairi and Lea were gone, and they watched the Gummi Ship fly away for a moment before Sora punched the air.

"Aw..."

The King's eyes narrowed and he turned to a run down looking red Gummi Ship. Along the side in black letters, was written _Walt E. Disney_, and it featured some rather fancy yellow racing stripes. It looked like, back in its day, it had been a rather prime Gummi Ship, the best of its fleet. Now, it looked a little old and worn, yet, it still looked somewhat decent.

"_If it means anything..._" came Tron's voice from the speakers, "_I have determined the path that the Gummi Ship is taking. It appears that they are heading to Wonderland!_"

"Thanks, Tron!" stated Sora excitedly. "That means a lot!"

"Sora, Riku, come with me!" the King stated, rushing up to the _Walt E. Disney_. "We'll take my Gummi Ship!"

"That run down thing?" snarked Cid, crossing his arms. "Don't you want me to take a look at it first?"

"I'm afraid it's a little ahead of you, Cid," the King admitted, opening the door and getting ready to hop in. Riku and Sora were already inside and buckling in. "... Someone who was once close to me designed this ship. I'm afraid he did it so well that even Chip and Dale couldn't do much for it when the engine went out. They had to put a new one in."

And with that, the King hopped into the ship, getting everything started. He gave a sigh as he began to start it up, wincing slightly at the scratching sound the engine made. In the back, Riku and Sora both lurched at the sound, covering their ears. As soon as the ship was prepared and ready to go, King Mickey set forth, the _Walt E. Disney _flying forth like a dream, the only side effect being the loud, outdated engine blaring out into the world. The Gummi Ship soared through the air, and King Mickey gained a large smile upon his face.

"Each time I fly it, I get a thrill inside my heart!" he stated happily. "Come on! Let's follow them!"

Strictly behind Lea and Kairi's Gummi Ship, they followed them to Wonderland. Just when the King was about to land, the _Walt E. Disney_ suddenly lurched to the left, causing Riku to fall off his seat and Sora to almost do the same. The King himself managed to stay in his seat by tightly grasping the controls.

"What was that?!" asked Riku. "Is something wrong with the steering?!"

"I... I don't know!" the King admitted, glancing at all the dials. "The _Walt E. Disney _has never done that before..." He began searching through various compartments, as if trying to find a flaw in the electronics. He opened vaults and air vents, and when he finally opened the glove compartment, a rather thick book entitled _'Instruction Manual' _fell out. King Mickey grabbed it carefully and opened it to the first page.

"'Mickey, if you are reading this, I'm going to assume you've never seen this book before and are trying to figure out what's wrong with the _Walt E. Disney_...'" he read out loud. Sora and Riku paused as he looked up for a moment, almost appearing to be on the verge of tears.

"... Your majesty...?" asked Riku cautiously.

"Aw, how many times do I have to tell you...?" the King said with a slight laugh, flipping through the book. "It's just 'Mickey' with you guys. We are friends. Ah! Here it is... 'If the ship suddenly lurches to the left, that's because of a defense mechanism I installed into the _Walt E. Disney_ for you. If this occurs, it is because in front of you, a large mass of Heartless air ships will be...' WHAT?!"

At this, the King suddenly sprang to his feet and looked out the side window of the Gummi Ship. Sure enough, there before him, there was a large amount of Heartless ships, surrounding Wonderland as if they were about to blow it up, which, they possibly were. Sora and Riku rushed to the window as well and Riku yelled out in anger.

"Kairi's on that world! We have to get closer!" he exclaimed.

"The manual says that at this point, the ship will not respond unless I'm steering away from it... He really programmed this ship well..." King Mickey explained sadly, still leafing through the manual. "He says in here that there's no way to counteract the effects. It's just far too dangerous."

Riku banged a fist against the unbreakable glass. "Well tell your friend the next time we see him that he's responsible for Kairi's death, and I will kill him."

"And I'll gladly help!" Sora agreed, crossing his arms. "We can't get it to now, Kairi's stuck there!"

"Maybe she wasn't heading to Wonderland. We never did see the Gummi Ship _land_ on the world..." King Mickey theorized. "And besides, its not like you can attack him. Like I said... He's gone now."

"So I can't even blame and hurt the guy responsible?" Riku was getting angry now. "That's just great..." He turned and headed back to his seat, sitting down in a chair and putting his hands over his face.

Sora, meanwhile, was getting upset. "So... so she's gone?"

"I doubt it," King Mickey assured him. "We may not be able to get there, but Lea is there with her. If we're lucky, they got off, or had never arrived in the first place. Perhaps they were heading somewhere else."

Sora and Riku could only hope that the King was right.

* * *

The Mad Hatter's residence was as loony as its owner. The House couldn't decide whether it wanted to be white or yellow, and the tables were all mismatched, as were the chairs and the tea sets. None of the cups even matched their saucers. All in all, the place was rather chaotic. A short distance away from the tables was a small hole in the ground, emanating blackness and darkness and also a Shadow or two.

Lea scoffed at the sight. "That old loon had a reason to worry- look at that! Those things could pour out of that if they wanted to!"

"Do you think this caused the Big Blue and Monstropolis to also get destroyed?" Kairi questioned immediately, taking out her Keyblade.

For a moment, Lea was quiet and didn't respond. "You know what, I bet this was the reason that happened. This thing obviously has the ability to summon Heartless, and, with the right amount, it could easily lead to the destruction of the world that it is on."

At that moment, more Heartless began to come pouring out of the hole in the ground, combining and combining together to form one big Heartless, with clearly, an appetite. It was indescribable- this large Heartless, with a large, zipper-like mouth and big, disturbing eyes much like a rag doll's. Lea and Kairi looked up at it in horror, before they took out their Keyblades.

Lea struck first- rushing in as fast as he could toward the beast and setting off a Fire spell or two. The beast responded with lashing out with a large claw attacked to an even longer arm. Lea managed to dodge in time for Kairi to come sweeping in with a slash from her Keyblade, which seemed to do _something _to it, until it decided to lash at Kairi, knocking her into the hedges alongside the Hatter's house.

At this point, Lea had started an even stronger Fire spell and rushed in on the creature once more, this time determined to strike it. Failure was not an option. Slashing at the creature with his fire and his Keyblade, the creature screamed out in pain and lurched down onto the ground. From there, Kairi zoomed in from the heart-shaped hedge, armed with her own Keyblade and attacked its head.

Both Lea and Kairi then attacked at the same time, and finally, the creature was gone.

"Well, that was easier than most," Lea admitted, his Keyblade disappearing.

Kairi stepped forward, glancing around the area. "Well, let's just return to the Gummi Ship and see if maybe Tron was wrong. Maybe it's the Coliseum that's getting attacked first..."

Lea crossed his arms. "Good idea. Let's get going."

Both returned back to the Gummi Ship floating in space, and Lea began to get ready for take off. Just as both were buckled in and safe, Lea prepared the head off, when suddenly, the world began to shake and rumble. Both stopped for a moment, trying to think what was happening. They watched, to their horror, as Wonderland appeared to invert in on itself and crumble, almost like a black hole had appeared in the center of it and was sucking the World in. Kairi gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, terrified at the sight.

"Oh, Lea...!"

At that point, Lea noticed what they were surrounded by. "I think the situation just got worse. We're surrounded."

"What?"

... And so they were. The Heartless Armada surrounded the destroying world, and for a moment, both young Keyblade wielders had a moment of fear and hesitation. They were being hailed on the comlink, telling them that somewhere in one of those ships was someone who could speak to them. Lea decided very quickly he didn't want to talk to this person, and so he deactivated the communicator, turned the ship around, and drove off.

"Time to go!" he stated quickly.

"Lea! Lea, do you know where you're going!?" Kairi demanded, holding onto her seat tight.

"No, not at all!" Lea admitted, trying to lose the ships following them.

He circled them really quickly, and began heading back to where Wonderland was getting destroyed. Kairi glanced down at the world with sadness, admitting to herself that it was a horrible sight to behold, knowing that the poor Hatter and the Queen of Hearts probably never had a chance- and Alice's world was gone now, destroyed.

Lea, meanwhile, saw a Corridor of Darkness begin to form in between the destruction and the armada. Feeling uncertainty, but still seeing a way out, Lea pressed down on the gas and drove right for it.

"Hold on, Princess! This is a huge long shot, but it's still worth a try...!" he exclaimed, ramming the Gummi Ship through the Corridor.

Inside the Corridor of Darkness, both of them just wanted a way out. However, Kairi's light inside her heart began to mess up the Corridor, as Lea began to realize. A new portal opened up before them, and the ship went through it, straight toward the ground of a world that neither of them had ever seen. It was a ghastly world that appeared barren and destroyed, with crashed Gummi Ships everywhere, with one massive one in the center that appeared to be made from the others' parts. Lea realized to his horror that, soon, their own Gummi Ship would be added to the number of Gummi casualties, if they didn't slow down.

He struggled with the controls of the ship for a moment before finally making the Gummi Ship land somewhat safely. One of the wings flew off in a random direction, and the controls were now kaput, but they were safe.

Both exited the Gummi to take a look around. It looked even more horrible up close. Crashed and destroyed Gummi Ships of all shapes and sizes surrounded the crash site, and for a moment, both felt a fear of never seeing home again.

Kairi looked up at the sky, seeing no stars, no sun, so moon. Just blackness, with portals opening everywhere, dumping destroyed Gummis onto the world. Was this is a world that the shipwrecked ships were brought to... to be left behind? And forgotten?

"Where is this place?" Kairi finally asked.

Lea could only shrug. "... I don't know. I really don't."

Behind them, a figure stepped up, crossed its arms, and tapped a rather large shoe onto the ground continuously.

"We're in a lot of trouble, aren't we...?" Lea asked rhetorically, watching as another ship crashed onto the world.

"Geeeeeee... ya think?" came a voice from the figure behind them.

Both turned around sharply with wide eyes. Behind them stood a cloaked figure, but his cloak was more like a brown, tattered poncho. His shoes were big and black with yellow soles and lines, and a large brimmed hat was on top of his head, hiding his face. Around his neck was a pair of protective goggles, fashioned out of leather and glass. However, he had fpur defining figures: He was short, possibly shorter than King Mickey by at least an inch, He had hands with four fingers, he was slightly skinny, and he had two large black things (Kairi figured they were ears for some reason) coming from the back of his head, going downward due to his hat.

It was at that point of seeing the two long ears that Kairi and Lea realized they were looking at a rabbit.


	4. Getting Home

_**SHIPWRECK NETHERWORLD**_

They were arrested. Kind of.

Both Kairi and Lea decided very quickly to put their hands up. They had no idea who this stranger was, other than the fact that he was a rabbit and was probably armed in some way. While they both had Keyblades and were perfectly capable of defending themselves, they had no idea who this guy was or where they were, and so, Lea figured silently, they were slightly at a disadvantage. Kairi was leaning more to the safe side, deciding that it was better for her if she just surrendered now, and then deal with the problem later after she had a plan.

The stranger stepped up to them and fixed his hat, glancing up at them and frowning slightly. He looked behind them to see the Gummi Ship, and he rushed up to it immediately, Kairi and Lea turning to watch as he fiddled with it, muttering to himself.

"... Almost completely intact... Amazing..." He rushed to the right side. "... And the engine, it's in complete working condition... Ah!" He began tearing at pieces, trying to get a look inside.

Lea fumed. "Hey! Watch it! That's our only ticket out of here! What are you doing?!"

"I want to know if your distributor is intact," stated the rabbit. "It's the last piece I need."

"Well, you can't have it!" Lea exclaimed, rushing up to him and knocking him back. "That's our ship, not yours, and we need to get out of here!"

The rabbit's hat had fallen off, revealing his white face with the black framing. He had black beady eyes as well, and Kairi noticed that they had a tired look to them. In fact, in general, the rabbit just looked _exhausted_, like he hadn't slept properly in weeks. When he stood up, he brushed some dust off his worn poncho before ripping it off entirely, revealing, underneath, his blue outfit that was reminiscent of Mickey and Sora's. Where Mickey's was red, his outfit was blue, and it was adorned with dark greys and silvers. His shirt was decorated with a brown patch on one side, and it was clear he had to re-attach a sleeve. There was fraying around the edges of his shirt, and he had leather wrappings all around it that appeared to be worn.

"You want to take this to a fight?" asked the rabbit, bending down with his fists clenched. "Then we'll take this to a fight. I don't have all day to stand here and argue with you- I need that distributor!"

"And we," Lea began, summoning his Keyblade, "need our Gummi Ship!"

"Lea!" Kairi exclaimed. "Please! Let's not fight!"

At the same time Lea had summoned his Keyblade, the rabbit had- amazingly- _done the same_. In his hands was now a silver Keyblade with a dark copper handle, a small keychain with a rabbit head similar to the Mouse symbol hanging off of it. Kairi noticed that, along the blade itself, there was a dark tarnish beginning to form around it, mostly around the edges, and it was damaged in some places. She hadn't even been aware that it was possible for Keyblades to _get _damaged.

When the rabbit noticed Lea's Keyblade, he noticeably hesitated, before he stood up, glancing down at his own. "... So... she's tossing more people down here, is she? Trying to banish us _all_, is _she_...?"

"What... What are you talking about?" asked Kairi cautiously, stepping forward. "We don't understand. We sort of... fell in. We were at Wonderland, and then it was going to be destroyed, so we had to get out. We didn't mean to come here."

"And now we need to get back, because there's going to be a meeting soon at Radiant Garden," Lea added curtly. "She's a Princess, she needs to be present."

The rabbit looked away. "Then you shouldn't have left the World to begin with!" In anger, he kicked one of the destroyed Gummi Ships. The bumper fell off. "If you're here by mistake, that gives you all the more reason to get off!"

"Well, we can't, you destroyed our ship trying to find a distributor!" Lea accused, getting back into a defense position. "We can't get off now; we're trapped, thanks a lot!"

"Cid's going to kill us..." muttered Kairi worriedly, looking away for a moment. "We're in so much trouble with him..."

"Yeah, that is, if we ever get off here, Princess," Lea annoyingly stated, still ready for a fight with the rabbit. "I don't think we are since we're now trapped, thanks to this guy!"

"Welcome to the club!" the rabbit yelled in return, throwing his Keyblade on the ground rather dramatically. "I'm trapped here, just like you! I've been trapped here for _eighty frigging years_! Don't complain to me about being trapped!"

That earned a moment's pause from both Kairi and Lea. Both of them stayed quiet as Kairi looked away in slight shame and Lea lowered his head, sending his Keyblade away. The rabbit gave sharp breaths in front of them as his own Keyblade returned to his hand, but he just let go of it, it vanishing as well. The two of them watched as he sat down and put his face in his hands for a moment, clearly thinking. With a sharp sigh, he began to speak.

"Alright, here's the deal. You give me your distributor... and I'll get you two out of here and back in Radiant Garden in time for that meeting. I'm not about to let a bunch of kids suffer through this like I have," he stated slowly. He looked up at them once he was done, and it was in that moment they realized he was being sincere. "I may have a heart of darkness, especially after all this time, but that doesn't stop the fact that I am a father and an older brother. I still got that protective streak in me."

Lea and Kairi glanced questionably at each other, clearly leveling their options. On one hand, this guy was someone they had just met. On the other, he was offering them a ride back to the Garden. One the other, other hand, he just admitted to having a heart of darkness, and neither of them were sure how to take that. In the end, the ride home won the argument.

Kairi stepped forward first. "Alright, deal." She held out her hand. "I'm Kairi, and this is Lea. What's your name?"

The rabbit took it carefully, shaking it lightly. "Oswald."

"Alright, Oswald. You can take that distributor and get us out of here... on the condition that you're the official driver," Kairi giggled, glancing at Lea. "I'm afraid Lea here is a little shaky..."

"Hey, it's not my fault that you actually can't drive!" Lea barked.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Radiant Garden, Sora was pouting as he sat at one of the desks and covered his face with his hands. He had failed in recovering Kairi and Lea, and now he was sure they were gone and there wasn't anything that he could possibly do about it. There was no going back now, no getting her back, no knowing where she was and how to find her. The matter remained: Kairi was gone. And so was Lea.

With a groan he looked up to see a floating security camera hovering over him, almost curiously. The floating Sentry Cams, as Cid called them, were an invention between him and Tron, so that Tron could monitor the entire world easier than anyone else. Every Sentry Cam recorded video and audio, and every single one of them was capable of sound as well, so that Tron could communicate with everyone in the area if he so wished. It was mainly due to the fact that sometimes (read: most of the time) he noticed things quicker than the others.

"_Sora? Why are you sitting there pouting?_" came Tron's voice from the Sentry Cam. "_I was under the impression you went after Kairi and Lea in the _Skyrunner."

"Yeah, until we lost track of it, and then Wonderland blew up," Sora moaned. "And now I don't know where Kairi is, and for all I know, she's gone."

Tron was silent for a moment. Sora figured he was busy dealing with something else. "_Well, the _Skyrunner_ most certainly is not destroyed. I am picking up its signal, but it is weak._"

His voice and words gathered everyone else's attention in the room. Riku rushed up to the table quicker than anyone else, and stuck his face in the camera of the Sentry Cam, making the little robot fly back a tad.

"What!" Riku exclaimed. "Where are they?!"

"_... Unclassified World at this moment, I am still trying to narrow it down,_" Tron admitted. "_For the moment, it does appear to be... close to where the World That Never Was used to be, which is almost impossible, considering they had been at Wonderland... However, it is almost... nowhere. Just floating in space._"

"Sounds like the Shipyard," King Mickey brought up. "There's a world that transports destroyed or unusable ships to it so they can be properly disposed of. The Heartless and the Nobodies use it more often. It's a barren wasteland."

"But what would Kairi and Lea be doing there?" Yuffie asked.

King Mickey could only shrug. "To be honest, I don't understand either. As far as I'm aware, it's an uninhabitable world."

Yen Sid stroked his beard, trying to figure it all out. "Perhaps the world had incorrectly deemed the _Skyrunner_ a destroyed ship among the chaos at Wonderland, and transported them there. For now, all we can do is patiently wait, and hope that somehow, they are able to leave."

"That's all we can do!?" Sora whined, slamming his face down on the table hard.

"_Careful, Sora, you might give yourself a concussion..._" Tron warned in a slightly teasing tone.

Riku stepped up then, annoyed at all of this. "That's not right!"

"Yeah!"

"We need to save them!"

"We have to!"

"That's a wasteland- they won't survive!"

"Master Yen Sid...!"

Yen Sid raised a hand, lowered his face, and closed his eyes. Everyone silenced, and soon the room grew quiet, save for the constant hum of the Sentry Cam as it turned to face the Master. Yen Sid looked up then, and continued.

"I have faith that on that world is an old friend of mine," he stated slowly. "While his path has been... questionable... I have faith that in his heart, there still beats a part of him that will wish to help Kairi. I know that he will, and soon, we will _all_ be reunited."

Riku and Sora glanced at each other. Something told them that while Yen Sid had faith that this... this mystery guy would help Kairi, that he didn't have faith that the guy was still on their side. The idea that Kairi would be traveling with some bad guy didn't sit well with them. Both frowned and clenched a fist. They would make sure this guy met his place when they met him.

* * *

Oswald's little hut in the wasteland was built out of old Gummi parts and shrapnel. A bed made of discarded pillows and blankets from bunk beds stashed inside of the ships had been made, and there was a small pile of food inside of a pail. Oswald regarded it for a moment with a slightly hungry look, before he shrugged and wandered off toward a rather massive Gummi Ship that he was clearly working on.

"What's this?" Kairi asked.

"It's a Gummi Ship," Oswald answered bluntly. "I've been working on it for eighty years. It's more a warship, really, but I'll need the gun power when we leave. We'll be surrounded when we do."

"What's its name?" Lea asked curiously, admiring it.

"... It doesn't have one yet," the rabbit replied, wandering up to it and entering it. "Give me a moment; I just need to put in the part then do an engine check..."

He disappeared inside the warship, leaving Kairi and Lea all by themselves outside. Kairi once again looked up at the sky above them, seeing that it was still dark out with no stars, or moon. A portal in the distance opened up, dropping a few destroyed Gummi Ships through and onto the world. Did Oswald come in like Lea and she had? Through a Gummi Ship? She couldn't imagine being locked away in a world like this one for eighty years, all by oneself. It was obvious the rabbit wasn't used to company now. His voice was kind of harsh, with a slight scratchy feeling to it.

Lea poked around Oswald's things, looking into the pail of food and making a face. "You've got to be kidding me..."

"What is it?" Kairi asked immediately, approaching him.

"_This_ is what that guy had to survive on for eighty years?" Lea reached inside the pail and pulled out a small assembly of ripe greens. He looked beside him to see some food packets salvaged from Gummi wreckage and shook his head. "Kairi, I'm almost glad we landed here. We're saving him from this hell."

Kairi's heart ached at the sight. No wonder he was so thin, so tired. She looked up at the warship to see his ears poking into view from one of the windows, as he furiously worked on something inside. She wasn't sure if he was already done working on the distributor and was doing an engine check or not, but whatever he was doing, he was doing it well.

Within a few moments, he sauntered out and fanned himself with the large brim of his hat. With it off his head, his ears poked up into the air, waving as he walked.

"Well, that's all settled. It's ready to go whenever you are," he told them.

"Is it ever gonna be day time?" asked Lea, looking around. "Or is it night all the time here?"

Oswald hesitated slightly, looking up. "Well, there's a time of day where it's kind of in between, like sunset or sunrise. But, I haven't seen the sun in eighty years, so..."

"Well, that's alright, let's wait for that time of the day, then," Lea decided, leaning back against a wall. "I admit, I'm actually kind of tired, and if I'm going to help us get out of here by shooting away at Heartless, then I better get fully rested."

Oswald frowned. "I thought the two of you had a meeting to get to. An important one."

Kairi crossed her arms. "We do, but come to think of it, did Master Yen Sid ever say when we had to get back?"

"Yen Sid?" brought up Oswald, but he was cut off before he could even finish the name.

"Nah, he never really did. I imagine they're gonna wait for us," Lea assured her. "I just want to make sure I'm alert for when we leave. You two should probably rest, too. Especially Os, he'll be driving. Apparently."

"Of course I will, I built it," Oswald grumbled, but nonetheless, he approached his pile of pillows and blankets and collapsed onto it, curling up.

Kairi sighed and sat down in between the two of them, watching more of the destroyed ships fall from portals. "... It must have been hard for you..." At this, she turned to consider the rabbit curled up in the old blankets. "Living here, I mean..."

"You get used to it," the rabbit revealed, turning so his back was facing her. "You just do."

* * *

After they all had a nap, the three of them were sitting inside the newly christened _Ortensia_, the warship that Oswald had built. With the new distributor and the engine checked out, the rabbit felt that it was time for the first flight. The three of them anxiously held on as Oswald turned on the Gummi warship.

… and the engine ran like a dream.

Slowly, the Warship began to run, turn on all its systems, and the lights turned on. A low hum began to play in the background as it slowly began to lift off the ground, and soon, it was flying. It approached the black sky, and Oswald stopped it, causing it to hover a good distance from the ground.

"She's running like a dream, Os!" Lea cheered, already stationed at the guns alongside Kairi. "She's built great."

"Of course she is, I built her," Oswald said with some pride. "Now we just have to wait for one of the portals to open up, and then we zoom out."

They waited a total of ten minutes. At that point, a portal right in front of them opened up, and dropped a few Gummi Ships. Oswald very quickly zoomed the _Ortensia_ through the portal, Lea very quickly beginning to fire on the various Heartless ships surrounding them. Kairi very soon began to aid in the destruction as Oswald manoeuvred the _Ortensia _through the chaos.

It involved him doing a lot of very swift dodging that Kairi didn't think was possible with such a big warship, as well as one loop-de-loop which made her sick, and wonder just how he was managing to do all of it. The _Ortensia_, despite being such a big warship made out of discarded parts, ran very well and was very sturdy and fast. Before they knew it, Lea and Kairi had destroyed most of the Heartless ships, and the _Ortensia _itself was floating inside space, being left alone.

For a moment, Oswald just gazed out into the stars with wide eyes brimming with tears. It took Kairi admittedly a bit to realize that he might be a little overwhelmed- it had been a long time since he had seen the stars, after all. She stayed quiet, looking down at her hands shyly.

"We made it out," Lea announced with a quiet voice. "We're out, and we're free. Off to Radiant Garden we go."

Oswald wiped at his eyes and nodded. "R-Right. I got to keep my end of the bargain, after all."

* * *

_**RADIANT GARDEN**_

"_Um, Cid? We have an incoming massive warship and I'm not sure what to do_," came Tron's voice from one of the Sentry Cams. This particular Sentry Cam suddenly grew a pair of thin legs and landed on Cid's right shoulder. "_I mean, I suppose I could hail them, but I wanted to check with you first._"

Cid grabbed a toothpick and put it in his mouth. "Can you give me a visual feed right here?"

"_One moment, processing…_"

Cid glanced at the screen of his computer nearby, seeing a video pop up of an incoming piece of flying debris mashed together into a ship approaching. He was sure he raised his eyebrows at the sight, surprised that something that Frankenstein-ish could even fly. "Hail them."

"_Understood._"

* * *

Oswald rubbed at his eyes, clearly still tired despite his nap earlier. Lea and Kairi were in the back of the cockpit, munching away at some food that he had stored inside the ship, both wondering why he wasn't having any despite clearly not having eaten during the eight hours that they had known him.

The silence was interrupted by a sudden beeping noise that occurred inside the ship. Oswald's ears perked and he hit a button.

"_Attention unidentified Gummi ship, this is Tron, security program for Radiant Garden. You are flying in restricted air space and are approaching despite not requesting permission. Identification and reasoning is required._"

"Tron!" exclaimed Kairi, rushing up next to Oswald, causing him to cry out slightly. "Tron, it's okay! It's okay, it's me!"

There was a slight pause from Tron's end. "_Kairi? Sora will be glad to hear that you are safe. Password required for entry, however, as you may recall._"

She gave a big grin. "Sora, Donald, Goofy!"

"_Access approved! I'll tell Cid to make room for that ship of yours. In the meantime, please head on down."_

Oswald was quiet for a moment, before looking up at her. "Sora, Donald, Goofy? Is that an inside joke between you?"

"It's the names of my friend and his two friends. They saved Tron previously, so he changed the password to keep the bad guys out to them instead of the Seven Princesses," Kairi explained with a smile. "Just between us, okay?"

In response, the rabbit shrugged. "I don't really know anyone to tell, Kairi."

The _Ortensia _began its descent, as people scampered out of the way in the hangar, moving ships out of the way. Kairi could see from the cockpit that a lot of them were recognizable for her- noticeably, Sora and Riku moving the King's own ship out of the way as best they could. The warship slowly moved through before landing in the direct middle, Lea hopped out right away, Kairi unbuckled, and Oswald wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Well, she passed the test, that's for sure…" he muttered, before opening a panel. "Still some bugs to work out…"

"You're not going to come with us?" Kairi asked worriedly, concerned for his health slightly. When the rabbit simply replied with silence, with a small amount of muttering about his ship's controls, she left the ship with a sad look. However, when she saw who was waiting for her, she put on a wide smile. "Sora!"

"Kairi!"

The two of them hugged, before Riku joined in. The three of them were reunited again.

"You've been gone for ten hours! Where did you go?!" Sora asked abruptly.

"Lea and I went to Wonderland to check things out, and then we flew through a portal," Kairi explained, trying hard to recount the Shipwreck graveyard details in order. "We landed in a short of Ship Graveyard, and that's where Oswald was. He gave us a lift, because we had a part he needed for the _Ortensia_."

"_Ortensia_? What happened to the _Skyrunner_?" Riku asked curiously.

"That's the _Ortensia_," Kairi mentioned, gesturing at the huge warship. "The _Skyrunner_ was crashed, by Lea."

"Which one of you is telling Cid?" Sora asked in return, chuckling slightly. "I can't believe you guys stole it."

"It was all Lea's idea. How was the meeting? Did we miss it?"

"No, it's happening shortly," Riku explained, crossing his arms and frowning slightly, before continuing. "Hey, listen. Yen Sid was wondering… I guess he kind of knew you would be meeting someone, because he asked me to tell you if your friend would like to come."

Kairi hesitated at that, looking up at the _Ortensia_. "I… I don't think that's a good idea. See… Oswald… is not good with people…"

"Kairi!"

All three of them turned to see the Restoration Committee, accompanied by Yen Sid, King Mickey and a floating Sentry Cam. King Mickey rushed up to Kairi's side, taking her hand.

"Kairi, Master Yen Sid wishes to speak to your pilot," he told her, his voice soft. As he spoke, Yen Sid approached the group, followed by Tron's Sentry. "Is he inside this ship?"

Kairi was still a little hesitant, but nodded. "I'm going to warn you, though, Master Yen Sid… He's not really a people person… I don't know how he'd react to a bunch of strangers on the ship…"

"Hey!" came Lea's voice now, as he approached, accompanied by Milo Thatch of all people. "Step away from the _Ortensia_!"

"Ortensia?" asked Mickey, as he did so.

"That's her name," Lea replied, summoning his Keyblade. "Listen people, I know you all want to meet the very kind engineer guy that saved our lives back there, but I'm warning you know. He is _not _a people person, in fact, he has terrible communications skills, bad hygiene, and horrible health habits due to a very long string of trauma from where he was. Because of this, I very kindly ask you to step _away _from this ship and let me and Kairi do the talking to him, alright?"

There were sounds of disappointment from the Restoration Committee females, except for Aerith, who merely narrowed her eyes slightly at the list of problems Lea felt necessary to string out. Kairi glanced up at the windows of the _Ortensia_, trying to catch a glimpse of the rabbit, but not managing to do so.

"Lea, step out of the way," Riku barked. "Sora and I want to meet this guy! He saved Kairi!"

"Were you two not listening?" Lea chided. "He's not a people person. In fact, he's a very cynical guy with a horrible sense in humor."

"... He never once told a joke," Kairi pointed out.

"I know, but he never laughed at mine during the ride here," Lea pointed out.

Aerith stepped up then, boldly approaching, then calmly pushing her way passed Lea and toward Kairi. One glare was all it took for Kairi to step out of the way, allowing the young woman passage through to the _Ortensia_, as everyone else watched in amazement. Leon chuckled and shook his head.

"No one messes with Aerith Gainsborough," Cloud stated calmly, crossing his arms.

* * *

When Aerith made it to the cockpit of the ship, she found a scrawny, small black rabbit with a hat picking away at some technology. At first glance, she noticed the slight frown on his face, the curve in his eyes that showed determination. She noticed the worn parts in his outfit, the fraying seams, and the re-attached sleeve. She noticed the caked on dirt on the bottom of his shoes. It was fairly easy for her to notice these things, and she wasn't sure how much of it Kairi and Lea had noticed when they had met him.

She approached slowly, deciding to take the safe route. Calmly, she knelt down beside him.

"Can I help you?" stated the rabbit, not bothering to look up at her as he worked.

Aerith gave her best smile; despite the fact she knew he wouldn't see it. "What are you working on? Is it important?"

"A little," the rabbit stated, doing some wiring. "She passed the test and got me and those two out of there, but she has a few bugs I need to work out. Her steering was excellent, but her braking needed some work…"

"Well, how about you work on that later and come down for something to eat?" Aerith offered, putting a hand over his, stopping his work effectively. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need, after all, being a friend of Kairi's. You saved her, we owe you."

"I can't do that, I'm not really that hungry, anyways," the rabbit replied, a slight crack in his voice. Aerith almost believed him, until she heard a stomach's grumble, and knew it wasn't hers. Still, the rabbit continued on like it never happened. "I can't impose on you like that, this isn't my world."

"It doesn't matter if it isn't," Aerith pointed out. "We still would like to offer you a hot meal. You look like you could use one." Here, she poked him slightly in the rib.

The rabbit placed a hand over his growling stomach, at first as if he had been trying to stop it. "… It has been a very long while since I had anything decent, but I don't really wish to leave the _Ortensia_… Kairi and Lea told me there are a lot of people out there, and I haven't had to deal with people for a very long time. I don't think I'm ready for something like that."

"I can bring it up for you, if you'd like," Aerith offered with a smile. "I understand, a dear friend of mine is the same way. By the way, my name's Aerith."

The rabbit regarded her for a moment, before giving a small smile. "My name's Oswald."

"I'll be back shortly with something for you, okay?" Aerith told him softly, getting up and heading back out.

"I'm not going anywhere," was Oswald's response.

A large crowd was standing outside the door to the _Ortensia _when Aerith stepped out. She was bombarded with questions about what he was like, what his name was, and what the inside of the _Ortensia _was like. She simply replied with small information: He was an engineer, like Cid, and he was small and weak looking, but something told her he was actually quite strong, and despite his tough exterior, he had a heart that could feel. She then told them that she had to go, as she had promised him a hot meal, and was bound to keep that promise.

Kairi and Lea smiled. When Kairi herself turned to look at Yen Sid, however, she noticed a frown. Not a mean, angry frown, but a calculating one, as he stroked at his beard.

He regarded everyone else around him before he simply gave a small smile. "Everyone, we are all reunited at last. I believe it is time for that new meeting. Kairi, Lea, if you would be so kind as to tell us what had happened on Wonderland, perhaps we can make proper attack plans with the information that you have gathered on your... unauthorized field trip."

Both stood to attention.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the _Ortensia_, Oswald glanced out the windshield, seeing the mass of people leaving the hangar. Immediately, he figured they were heading to that important meeting Kairi and Lea told him about. He gave a small smile, glad that he had at least managed to keep his end of the bargain after all, managing to get them here on time for it. His smile vanished, however, when noticed a familiar red and yellow Gummi Ship sitting idly on the side of the hangar, appearing run down and worn. At first, he didn't believe his eyes, he had to rub them. Was he too overtired? Because, there was no way..._  
_

The _Walt E. Disney_. And it looked _terrible_.

* * *

**_Journal Entries:_**

_OSWALD_  
_A Gummi Ship engineer Kairi and Lea met on the Shipwreck Netherworld. Using a piece from their ship, he managed to fix up his own and get them off the world with him. He admits to having a heart of darkness, and he is capable of wielding a keyblade. Apparently, he is a father and an older brother. _

_**AERITH  
**A friend of Sora and Kairi's, and a part of the Restoration Committee. She is known for being motherly and tough, despite not being much of a battler. Her healing magic, however, is unparalleled in the Committee, and is a strong asset to the group._


	5. Preparations, and a Man in Red

"... And then he fixed the ship, and we flew here," Kairi finished, keeping out a whole lot. Mainly, she kept out the fact that Oswald was his name (naming him "Ossie" the entire time, and she was sure most of the group had heard it anyway, but better safe than sorry), and the fact that he was capable of wielding a Keyblade. She wasn't sure why she had decided to do that, but considering Yen Sid was who he was, she was sure he wouldn't react well to knowing that Oswald was someone with a heart of Darkness that had just saved her.

Lea, meanwhile, made sure to address the poor conditions "Ossie" had to deal with. The low food quality, the small little shrapnel hut, the constantly raining down broken ships… He was mainly angry at the fact that someone had been left there for _eighty years_ and no one seemed to know it. Neither of them knew how he had wound up there, but surely he had family. He had mentioned being a brother and a father to them.

This was all mentioned, of course, after they had described what had happened in Wonderland, much to Alice's horror. They had only begun talking about meeting "Ossie" after Yen Sid had demanded to hear about the mysterious engineer.

Aerith had wandered in roughly half an hour into the meeting, quietly stating that she had just finished delivering a hot meal to their guest. If anyone noticed the sigh of relief that both Kairi and Lea had let out, no one mentioned it.

The difference between the last meeting and this one was there was no Tron present. The webcam, microphone, and speaker had not been set up along the table, and, instead, Milo Thatch had been given that spot on the table. It was something Kairi didn't understand, and, as she noticed from looking at Sora, it was something he didn't either. Without the low hum of the machinery that had once brought Tron to the meeting, the courtroom was eerily silent as the people considered the words that Kairi and Lea had told them.

Yen Sid then finally spoke, going on to explain that groups of three would be created to go around the worlds and save what they could. Two groups of Keyblade Wielders would also be created, formed out of the five available bladers, and those two groups would be in charge of investigating potential world disasters and lock the keyholes, defeating the Heartless in the process. Yen Sid further said that, for the moment, one group would stay behind, not because they were short one blader, but because they didn't have a ship anymore.

That group was Kairi and Lea.

And so, Kairi moped as Sora packed away in front of her, gathering his different key chains that he had acquired over the course of his last two main journeys. With a smile he glanced up at her. "Don't worry, Kairi. I'm sure it will all work out."

"My team is short one member, and we crashed our ship, and I'm not allowed to leave," she groaned, holding up her head with her hands. "I mean, Leon even said that they had decided what world Lea and I would be checking out, but we're not allowed yet because Lea wrecked the _Skyrunner_."

"Hey, I'm sure if you somehow managed to get a pilot to take you there that Leon will let it slide..." Sora offered as advice. "Come on, Kairi. It's not like we're all leaving today. King Mickey said that we're leaving in a week, so that he can get the _Walt E. Disney_ at least checked over by Chip and Dale."

Kairi gave a sigh as she hugged her legs close to her chest. "Well, at least then I'm not going to be all alone..."

"Of course not!" Sora laughed. "You have me, and Riku, and the King and Donald and Goofy, and Lea, too, since he's going to be on your team. And that Ossie guy, Oswald wasn't it?"

That was when a sudden, evil thought crept its way into Kairi's head. She smiled widely, turning to face Sora with it, a slight twinkle in her eye. "Sora, that's it! You just gave me a wonderful idea! Maybe Ossie will lend Lea and me a ride to that world!"

Sora laughed once more, and finished his packing. "There! All of my key chains!" He then turned to her, appearing eager. "Are you going to go ask him now? Do I think I could join you? I'd like to meet him."

Kairi gave a nod and jumped out of her seat. "Sure, he's right this way!"

The two left Sora's room and headed down the hall, Kairi leading the way the whole time. They passed by Cid having a short chat with one of the sentry cams, both assuming that Tron must have been talking with him. Sora rushed ahead when they approached the door to the hangar, and held it open for Kairi, trying to be the gentleman. From there, the two of them approached the large warship, the _Ortensia_, sitting idly in the center of the hangar, appearing untouched and unchanged, save for the slight cleaning that it had undergone while they had been away.

"... Ossie must have cleaned it," Kairi suggested. "It's less dusty now."

"Still looks incredible," Sora admitted, crossing his arms and nodding approvingly. "I still can't believe that thing flew through space. It looks like a bunch of Gummi ships mashed together!"

"Sora," Kairi said with a giggle, "that's because it _is _a bunch of Gummi ships mashed together. Come on, he's waiting inside."

Together, the two stepped through the door of the _Ortensia_, heading up the flight of stairs to the main cockpit. Inside, the _Ortensia_ was rather vast, with rooms for sleeping, rooms for meetings, meals or leisure, a large bathroom area, the cockpit, and the rest being easy access to the many parts of the ship. The two ignored the rest of the rooms and headed right to the cockpit, where Kairi smiled at the sight of the rabbit sitting in the main chair, fiddling with the controls. There was a partially empty plate of food sitting next to him as he did so, probably left there by Aerith. He had since had his clothing washed by Aerith presumably, but he was also now wearing a long, worn jacket with a sleeve that has a massive rip in it, revealing his elbow, and his hat was still on his head.

Kairi approached him calmly, a smile still on her face, and she placed a hand down on his seat. "Hey, Ossie. What are you working on?"

Oswald barely looked up at all. "I'm working on something that went all buggy just now. Something went wrong with one of the guns."

"Well, that wouldn't be good," Kairi commented lightly. "Hey, would you be able to give me a lift to a world?"

That was when he looked up at her. "What? When?"

"In a week or so," Kairi replied. "See, they won't let me without a ride, but Lea and I don't want to sit around doing nothing when we could be doing _something _to help…"

He appeared to be thinking about it, as he adjusted his hat and turned to look up at Sora, making the boy realize then just what he was.

"Hey, wait—…"

"So, you want a lift to a world, in a week…?" the rabbit cut him off, turning back to his work. The both of them watched as he fiddled with something in the programming for a moment until he turned to the wiring. "That gives me enough time to fix a few bugs, I guess. Where we heading? Do you know?"

"It's a world just off to the right of here, near where the Heartless had been attacking. Tron and Cid called it the 'Highlands'," Kairi explained, sitting down in one of the seats next to him. Sora decided to take the other, keeping quiet for the most part.

"The Highlands, huh…?" Oswald muttered, struggling with a wire.

"Yeah," Sora cut in, "and it's close to the Heartless attacks. Tron said there was a high possibility it might be close on their list! So, Master Yen Sid wanted Kairi and Lea to look into it once they got a ship!"

Oswald poked his head away from the wiring to glare at Sora. "Wait, who are you?"

There was a pause.

"Oh, Ossie, that's Sora, one of my best friends!" Kairi giggled. "Sora, this is Ossie."

"_Oswald_. But don't go calling me that outside the ship," Oswald corrected, turning back to the wires. Sora gulped. "I've made enemies, I'm sure."

"What have you been up to exactly?" Kairi asked immediately. "I noticed you washed her."

"That wasn't me," Oswald replied soon after, finally fixing that one wire and starting on another. "That was Cid. Aerith said it was because he was tired of staring at her, being all dirty and dusty." He paused afterward, giving a slight shrug. "… I didn't see anything wrong with her."

"It was a bit dirty, though," Kairi pointed out. "Did you ever clean her before?"

"With _what_?" the rabbit quickly responded with anger, looking up at her. "Did you see a pool of clean water and a bottle of soap while you were there, and not tell me?" His eyes flashed as he said it, making Sora and Kairi flinch back from the remark.

He then widened his eyes in shock, almost like he hadn't expected to reply that way. He held his head for a moment, shook it, and then sighed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped…" Here, his voice suddenly had a softer tone, causing Sora and Kairi to share concerned looks. "… I shouldn't have lost control like that… Thought I had a better lid on it… Guess not."

They then watched as he pulled out a flask, one that Kairi had never even seen him use before, and watched as he took a swig of whatever he had in there. He then took a moment to recompose himself, taking a deep breath and then turning back to his wiring job, putting the flask back in an inside pocket of his worn down jacket. Kairi opened her mouth to continue to say something, but he just held up a hand.

"No, no, don't start about that…" he said, and both teenagers exchanged concerned looks once more. What was he going on about? "And don't question me about the unfinished plate of food, either. I swear the food multiplies when I'm not looking."

Just to see, Sora and Kairi found themselves glancing at the plate of food. It seemed to be exactly the same as when they had walked in.

"So…" Sora began, turning back to the rabbit. "Oswald. Are you a rabbit?"

"What tipped you off, the big ears?" Oswald asked back, sarcastically. He fixed his hat again. "Of course I'm a rabbit. What of it?"

"Well, I've met talking mice, talking dogs and talking ducks, and I've met one rabbit, but I've never seen one so much like the King like you are," Sora said excitedly. "Where are you from, exactly?"

"Technically?" Oswald asked, a bit of a harsh tone being used. "Technically I'm from Disney Town, but then I moved to the Mysterious Tower, and then I was moved to Wasteland, then back to Disney Town, then I was kicked out, then I was flung into the Shipyard. For eighty years."

Kairi and Sora once again traded concerned looks.

"So, I'm guessing you're going to be expecting me to give you a ride back, right?" Oswald suddenly said, gesturing to Kairi. "Since I'm sure you don't want me abandoning you on the Highlands anywhere."

"It would be appreciated," Kairi assured him with a smile. "Maybe you can even help me and Lea out as we figure out what the problem is."

Oswald gave her what appeared to be a concerned look, but she wasn't quite so sure. "I don't know about that. Things I try to help with just tend to break even more. Things I do with a sincere heart and good reasons… are taken the wrong way."

"Sounds like you didn't really have good friends that saw the point in your decisions," Sora brought up sadly.

Oswald shrugged, muttering slightly as he turned back to the controls. "Maybe, maybe not."

Kairi stood up then, gesturing to Sora. "Come on, Sora. Let's let him work in peace."

* * *

"You got us a ride?" Lea asked soon after as the group was in the dining area with some food. "Kairi, that's great! With who?"

"With who do you think?" Kairi asked back with a smile. "Sora and I visited Ossie earlier today in the _Ortensia_. I managed to convince him to give us a lift and back."

"That is so awesome!"

Riku stabbed his food with his fork, a glare forming in his eyes.

"What did you think of the ship, Sora? Pretty impressive, am I right?" Lea asked with a chuckle. "He built it out of spare parts, over the course of the time he was there. The gunpower is _amazing_ and the guns themselves are in top condition, which is weird, considering the state of the materials."

"It looks like a lot of fun to ride in," Sora agreed.

Finally, Riku couldn't take it anymore. He stood up from the table, picked up his plate, and left the area. He had enough with the chatter about this 'Ossie' guy. He didn't care what anyone said - he deemed the guy untrustworthy and not worth his respect, even if he had saved Kairi. Riku could tell that it was just to save his own skin from the world that he had been living on.

Sure, the living conditions sounded bad, and the guy was clearly a few burgers short of a barbecue, but first and foremost, he knew what Yen Sid had said earlier about him before he arrived - the guy's past actions were questionable. That meant one thing to Riku: This guy was once a _bad guy_. A villain, a foul fiend, something that he was supposed to whack with his keyblade, not fight alongside with.

Processing these thoughts, Riku decided that he was never going to trust this guy with Kairi. He never thought he'd say this, but he really hoped Lea kept a close eye on her for him.

* * *

"... Cid wants his Wing Gummi back," Aerith announced as she entered the _Ortensia _on the third day. "He's getting tired of you stealing his parts when he's not looking. While I'm happy that you're wandering out of the ship now, bothering Cid and disrupting his and Tron's work is not that appropriate..."

"I have to have this thing in perfect flying shape by the end of the week," Oswald replied as he fiddled with something in ventilation in the corridor of the ship. "Kairi needs a lift, she saved me, and she seems important, so I'm going to do what she asks."

Aerith knelt down beside him, watching him work closely. Her eyes blinked at the sight of him jolting slightly at an electrical shock. "You care about her."

"It's really a debt that I owe her for landing on the Shipyard to begin with, with the part that I needed," Oswald pointed out, coming out from the shaft and shaking his shocked arm. "Besides, she's a good kid with a good heart."

"You mean that, don't you?" Aerith teased lightly. "I think it's really great that you care about her. It's alright to care about someone, you know."

Oswald seemed to not agree with her, as he turned to look at her for a moment before going back to nursing the arm he had unfortunately electrocuted. "... I've learned the hard way that it's actually not... Over the years the worlds have taken things and people that I cared about, and neglected to give them back."

"Those things, and those people, will find a way back to you," Aerith promised. "They always do. Look at Cloud, he was lost, but now he's found his way back to us, and many people that we thought were gone have as well."

"Well, it was nice of the worlds to give those people back to you," Oswald observed, abandoning nursing his arm and going back to trying to repair the wiring despite what had just happened to him. "I wish they were as nice to me, but I doubt my sweet little Ortensia is going to show up out of nowhere and hug and kiss me like she used to do every morning..."

Aerith paused at the mention, seeing the way that he sagged at the name, the way that he stopped what he was doing. It was easy to tell from his reaction alone that this 'Ortensia' that he mentioned was undoubtedly someone that he had loved very much. She'd have to be - wasn't that the ship's name? _Ortensia_? It wasn't that hard to put two and two together and make something that made sense. She lowered her head at the thought and then calmly stood up. "Well, I shall leave this to you, it's obvious you're busy..."

"Mmm..." was the reply, as Oswald resumed work.

"Are you hungry? Did you want anything?" Aerith asked once more, hoping for an answer.

When she didn't get one, she sighed and decided to leave the _Ortensia_, heading off down a hallway from the hangar to meet up with a few of her friends. Stepping through the hangar doors, she turned one final time to see the ship sitting there quietly. At that moment, Aerith frowned as she tried to think of something that she could do to at least help Oswald feel welcome inside of Radiant Garden. She wanted them all to get along, but from what she had gathered from the other Restoration Committee members, none of them really trusted the engineer, mainly because he never left the ship that he had arrived in.

She sighed as she turned back into the hallway and stepped along the tile floors. The hallways echoed the sound of her shoes as they clacked against it, and in the distance, she could see a few of her fellow Committee members chatting about something. Tifa and Cloud appeared to be in a deep conversation, and Aerith instantly knew that she should probably keep her distance. Thus, she stopped and entered a nearby room quietly, seeing Yuffie in front of a broken down television with Cid fiddling with something in the back of it.

"Anything, yet?" asked Cid, poking his head out.

"Nope, still static," Yuffie sighed, and neither of them looked up to acknowledge Aerith.

That was fine, Aerith decided, and she continued through the room to the door on the other side, entering a different hallway nearer to the library. She stepped along the way and entered the vast room full of books, and sat down in a chair immediately, rubbing her temple free of an incoming headache.

"Something the matter?" came a sudden voice, and Aerith looked up to see Leon flipping through a history book. She found it somewhat odd, but shook her head.

"Nothing too major..." she started, tilting her head to the side. "Just can't seem to get Ossie to open up. I feel that what he went through has to be shared in order to be gotten over..."

"Give the guy some time," Leon offered, sighing and closing his book. "This is something that doesn't take three days to recover from."

"I suppose you're right... It's just, I want to help." Aerith sat up a bit and fixed her footing, putting her hands before her on her lap and looking up at him with a small smile. "He's nicer than you'd think. He doesn't like to show his soft side, but when he does, it's like what little light he has left suddenly brightens, covering his darkness like a security blanket..."

Leon was quiet for a moment. "... That's an odd way to put it."

She shrugged. "It's really the only way that I can..."

The door to the library opened once more, and both Leon and Aerith found themselves looking up in alarm. They stared up at the figure before them - a tall man with red eyes and dark hair, dressed in red, and flinched when at last he spoke...

"... Where is she?" asked the man, "Where is Kairi?"

* * *

Not realizing that she probably now had a hitman after her and Leon and Aerith were being interrogated about her location, Kairi happily skipped along the paths in the town of Radiant Garden, following Sora, Riku, Lea and the King as they all went shopping for supplies.

"We have to be well stocked for sure," Riku noted as he put a large amount of various Potions from a stand. "I bet Sora gets in tons of trouble when he's out on adventures."

"This one's going to be different than the others," Sora slowly realized, his tone gaining the attention of his companions. "... I mean, no Donald and no Goofy. Just you, and the King with me, and Kairi's going to be going with Lea and that other guy..."

"Ossie," Lea provided, assuming Sora forgot the rabbit's name.

"Right, that guy."

Kairi giggled.

Riku sneered, crossing his arms as the King chuckled lightly for a moment. "Sora, is that nervousness I sense? You can't possibly be wanting to chicken out on this adventure. Come on - you've journeyed without Donald and Goofy before!"

"I know that, but that one ended terrible..."

"Ha, don't worry, Sora," chirped the King, stepping up so he was in the middle of the group. "We're all in this together... We've got each other's backs!"

"The King's right, Sora," Kairi added, standing taller and holding her hands together behind her back.

Sora nodded and crossed his arms, swaying his head from side to side like he sometimes did when thinking. "True, it's just... it's odd. I mean, you're not safe back at Destiny Islands, and Lea getting involved, and that other guy..."

"Ossie," Lea provided once more, before laughing outright. "Guys, no need to worry on this. All of us can fight, all of us can use magic, Kairi's healing is amazing, my fire is awesome, Sora's hack-and-slash is powerful and the King's the King, so come on."

The others laughed at his words, Sora already feeling better about it. They continued on their way, purchasing materials and healing items, and Kairi even picking up a good luck charm from one elderly lady - a special charm with a rabbit's head on it. The elderly woman had told Kairi that it once belonged to a small rabbit child, who had entrusted the power of their lucky rabbit foot into the charm to summon its siblings whenever it so desired. Sora had later explained to Kairi that it was, in fact, a summon charm, but he didn't know what's powers were. Kairi was fascinated, so she decided to hold onto it.

Further down the marketplace Sora spotted two children playing with what appeared to be a grey cat wearing a red cape around its neck and a golden crown atop its head. Brown boots covered its hind feet and its antics that it kept doing entertained the boy and girl that it was playing with.

The girl was obviously the youngest of the two children, being shorter and smaller over all compared to the boy that she was with. The colour white appeared to be her theme, as her clothes consisted of a knit white pullover vest, and a white skirt with embroidered flowers decorating it. Her shoes were white ankle boots, and little lace pink socks peeked out from the top. Her dark brown hair was braided back with a bright pink bow, and her brown eyes scanned around the market courtyard for her friends.

The boy that she was with was taller, with light brown hair styled in a way that reminded the group of Cloud, wearing a dark blue button up shirt over a white one, and his pants were a brighter shade. The shoes that he wore were a pair of black and white running shoes, and overall, he seemed to be in a good mood. To Kairi, she realized, it was like he hadn't laughed in a while, and it was good to let out some steam.

She smiled at the sight, glancing at Sora to see he was, too.

"I've never seen these kids here before," he pointed out to everyone else. "... They must have arrived not that long ago."

"Well, whoever they are, I'm glad that they're having fun," Riku decided, glancing around the area as if trying to find their parents. "In this kind of danger, it's good to see that kids still have a chance of being kids. Knowing that out there, there's a horde of Heartless that have destroyed two worlds so far... It's kind of eye-opening..."

"We'll make sure that Radiant Garden doesn't fall. We'll make sure of it," the King promised, turning to the others. "Let's go, there's still a lot of preparations to be had!"

"That's right!" Lea exclaimed, grabbing hold of Kairi, causing her to squeak. "Let's go see if Ossie's done with the _Ortensia_ yet! I can't _wait _to go to the Highlands!"

With that final statement, the group headed back to the castle, each of them laughing and having fun.

The kids stayed in the marketplace courtyard, until the man in red reappeared, startling them. The girl hid behind the boy in fear, and the plush cat stood up on its hind legs, pointing an accusing finger at the man in red, before finally stating something.

"About time that you got here!" it barked at him. "You're an hour late!"

"You exaggerate," stated the man in red. "I am not an hour late."

"They've already left," the cat said, before gesturing at the children. "Get them back inside, to safety. I need to do my patrol! Gah! Sometimes I just want to take something really sharp and jam it down through your head and _into your brain_!" _  
_

"You don't mean that, Cait Sith," stated the girl quietly, from behind the boy. He turned back to face her for a moment before looking back up at the man in red. "... Do you?"

"Of course not, Marlene," Cait Sith decided to settle on, after a long moment's pause. "Get them to Barret! I need to get moving."

With that, the plush cat darted down a street, leaving the man in red with Marlene and the boy. He turned to look at them before holding a hand quietly, which the boy took almost immediately. Whoever this scary man in red was, the two children weren't afraid of him, in fact, they very clearly knew him pretty well, and trusted him completely.

"Let's go," the man in red said, and led the way back to the castle. "... We have Barret, and a girl to find."

"So it's true, then?" Marlene asked, looking up at the man in red. "Kairi's come back?"

"Kairi?" the boy repeated in awe. "Kairi's here?"

"Yes," the man in red replied. "And we need to find her. Did you two want to help me?"

Both children peered at each other before breaking into grins. "Do we? Yes!"

* * *

**Summon Charm Obtained!**

Lucky Rabbit's Foot Charm: Summons a horde of bunny children into the battlefield, allowing one to gain the upper hand. Requires to be in the hands of Oswald in order to be used.

* * *

**Unlocked World: **

**THE HIGHLANDS**

* * *

**Journal Entries: **

**_Man in Red_  
**_A mysterious man in red that appears to be hunting Kairi for an unknown reason. He appears to know his way around Radiant Garden well. _

_**Cait Sith  
**A strange plush doll that is somehow able to speak and move. He's a part of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, and does frequent patrol rounds and odd hours, due to never really needing to sleep. ****_

**_Marlene  
_**_A young girl that was in the Marketplace Courtyard. Her innocence is greatly accented by her almost pure white wardrobe. She's a cheerful girl, and very playful._

**Boy**  
A boy that accompanied Marlene in the Marketplace Courtyard. His appearance strikes one as familiar - he looks a little like Cloud.


	6. Highlands - Change Your Fate

They didn't know why, but Aerith was suddenly _very _adamant that they leave as soon as the _Ortensia _was flight ready. Her sudden change in behaviour had surprised Kairi and Lea quite a bit, and they were glad that Oswald had finished a bit more early than he had expected. Pretty soon, they were off in the air, heading off to their first World as a team, and Kairi was definitely looking forward to it.

Sitting down in her seat to Oswald's left, she watched as the stars whizzed past her outside. Oswald drove the ship expertly and at a nice pace, one that she appreciated. Lea fiddled with the gun, anxious to use it. The ride so far had been quiet.

"Aw, come on! This world was supposed to be surrounded by the stupid beasts, so where are they...?" Lea complained, starting to fidget some more.

Oswald found himself sighing at the complaint, turning to face him. "Don't even start. We should be glad there's not that many out here. It's a good start, something we need to be happy about."

"Are you going to come down with us?" Kairi asked, looking over at him. "It'd be fun to have you with us."

"Hey, yeah, there's an idea!" Lea exclaimed in agreement, now leaning against the gun controls. "Ossie, come with us! It might help you out, you know?"

Oswald frowned at the idea, and appeared to be thinking about it, and seriously, too. "... Fine, but only so I'm not waiting around here."

"Look!" Kairi suddenly yelled out, pointing at a world that had appeared before them - a large castle sat on a diverse landspace, with an ocean, cliffs, and a forest. The three of them gawked at it.

And then Oswald got bored.

He yanked on the steering, and the _Ortensia _lowered itself toward the world. "Well, let's go, then!"

* * *

**THE HIGHLANDS**

* * *

A middle aged woman threw her daughter into a dark room with a tapestry along the wall, a fireplace situated beside it. The daughter turned, looking at her angrily. The woman wore a long dress of green, her hair long and brown. The daughter wore a torn dress of light blue, her hair long, curly and red. A bow was hanging off her shoulders, across her.

"I don't believe you!" exclaimed the mother. "I've just about had enough of you, lass!"

"_You're _the one that wants me to...!" began the daughter, but she was unfortunately cut off by her mother almost instantly.

"You embarrassed them! You embarrassed me!"

"_I _followed the rules!" was the daughter's argument.

The mother seethed, and spoke again. "You don't know what you've done!"

"I don't care how..."

"There will be fire and sword if it's not set right."

"Just listen!"

The mother stepped forward, trying hard to stand tall and dangerous before her daughter, almost regal and above her. With her next words, her intentions became clear. "_I am the QUEEN! YOU _listen to _ME!_"

"OH!" exclaimed the daughter, throwing her arms up in the air. "This is so unfair!"

"Huh! Unfair?"

At this, the daughter picked up a stray sword, that had been leaning against a nearby table in the room. She swung it around, clearly even more angered than she had been before. "You were never there for me!" More swings. "This whole marriage is what _you _want!"

The mother jerked, backing up from the swings.

"Do you ever bother to ask what _I _want? No!" The daughter swung some more, before finally stopping, placing the tip of the blade against the stone that made the floor to the room. She glared up defiantly at her mother, continuing. "You walk around telling me what to do, what not to do! Trying to make me be like you! Well, I'm not going to be like you!"

"Ach!" the mother sounded, appearing offended. "You're acting like a child!"

The daughter approached a rather beautiful tapestry, the one adorning the wall. Sewed lovingly into it was the image of their family, a large man, surrounded by his four children. Next to the image of the daughter was the mother. In the space between the mother and daughter, the daughter pointed the sword that she held toward it.

"And _you're _a beast!" declared the daughter. "That's what you are!"

"Merida!" exclaimed the mother, holding her arms out.

Merida did not stop. The tip of the sword tore through the fabric. "I'll never be like you!"

"No! Stop that!"

Her attempts were pointless, as Merida only continued. "I'd rather _die _than be like you!"

And with these words, she slashed against the tapestry, effectively separating the images of the mother and her, and the rest of the family. A nice clean line now separated them. The mother gasped in shock at the sight of the act, and Merida just stared at her defiantly.

Furious for this, the mother marched up her. "Merida, you are a princess!" She took the sword from her daughter's hand, and tossed it aside, it clashing against the stone loudly. Then, she took grip of the bow that that hung against her shoulders. "I expect you to act like one!"

Finally having a complete grasp of the bow, the mother then threw it in the fire, which flared at the sudden addition of wood. Shocked at her mother, Merida teared up at the sight, looked up at her mother, then ran out of the room in tears.

"Merida! Merida!" called the mother, before she heard the crackle of the burning wood, realizing what she had just done.

Turning back to the fire, she saw the bow, and pulled it out with a fire pick. However, she was too late. The bow was already ruined.

The mother wept at the sight. "Oh, no... What have I done?"

* * *

"Look at this place!" Lea exclaimed, pointing at all the activity in the main courtyard of the castle they had found in this new World.

Upon arriving, the three of them had realized that the magic of their Keyblades had given them new clothing to fit in with the world. Both Lea and Oswald wore armored clothing with kilts, something that had bothered both of them upon realizing just what they were. While Oswald had simply accepted his fate, grabbed his hat, donned it, and went with it, Lea insisted on swiping a pair of shorts to wear underneath it. Kairi, meanwhile, was wearing a tightly fitting dress that she had to modify slightly in order to even be able to _move_. Luckily, both Oswald and Lea had been willing to help her do it.

It appeared to be evening in this world, with most of the people rushing around the castle and gathering food and drinks for what appeared to be a party going on in the main hall. Giving each other odd looks, they shrugged before barging in through the main entrance, seeing a large man dressed in Scottish clothing with a bear cape hanging from his shoulders, dancing around at the front of the room, singing a song about a "Mor'du". In front of him, three men appeared unimpressed, and others were dancing around and cheering along with the main singer.

"_Mor'du, __Mor'du, Mor'du, Mor'du!  
Now the time has come for all of us to slaughter you!  
Mor'du, Mor'du..._"

"Come on," stated Lea, turning to Kairi and Oswald. "Let's get out of here, I can't hear myself think."

"Good idea," Kairi agreed.

The three manouvred around the room to a door on the far right, stepping into what appeared to be a kitchen. They stepped through a series of stairs just as the door that appeared to lead out of the castle had opened. Stepping out into the hall, Kairi almost banged into a woman in a green dress with long, brown hair.

"Oh!" Kairi exclaimed. "I am _so _sorry!"

"Careful!" barked the woman, causing Kairi to squeak and hide behind Lea. "I am in a _hurry_!"

"I-I... I..."

"Now," the woman stated again, "Have you seen my daughter, Princess Merida?"

There was a moment of silence from the three of them. They gave each other confused looks before Oswald finally spoke up.

"Who?"

At the sight of him, the woman suddenly screamed. "What is _THAT?!_" She grabbed hold of a nearby ax, holding it out toward him, causing him to duck behind Kairi, who was still hiding behind Lea.

"Whoa, whoa, lady!" Lea yelled out, summoning his Keyblade. "Lady, we're your side!"

"If you _were_," the woman chided, pointing the ax at him now, "you'd be referring to me as _Queen Elinor!_"

"We're sorry!" Kairi called out from behind Lea, "We're sorry, we're new to the area, so we didn't know...!"

"And he," Lea continued, gesturing to Oswald, "is nothing to be concerned about, trust me. I've seen stranger."

Queen Elinor gave them all hard looks before her eyes narrowed slightly. Her look of distrust didn't go away, but she did lower her ax. "Very well," she stated, putting the ax aside once more. "If you lot were to get in trouble, anyway, Fergus would make quick work of you, for sure. I need to be on my way, Merida needs to be found. _Stay out of trouble_."

As she stepped past them, the three of them followed her movement cautiously. Kairi, however, made sure to say, "I hope you find her!" as the Queen disappeared from view.

"Geez, that was difficult," Lea noted, before turning back to the end of the hall. "I think we need to get out of here, there's no point staying in a castle where the Queen wants to murder you and point axes at standing, talking rabbits like they're demons."

Oswald frowned and crossed his arms. "... I think we should probably go back to that mess hall, first. Someone there might know where the Heartless have been. We're getting nowhere wandering through the halls."

"Good idea," Kairi agreed, and together the three of them back-tracked to the main area, where the singing was still continuing.

The large man on the stage danced around on his one leg, his other being a stick of wood, as the three soon noticed. He picked up a sword as he sang about slaying a beast, and stabbed at a stuffed bear that was near him. When he did so, the surrounding men cheered loudly.

Kairi, Lea and Oswald stepped forward a bit to get a closer look, their sudden appearance causing the entire room to suddenly _silence_.

"And who are you, wee lass?" stated the man at the front of the room, limping down toward them. "I have never seen the likes of you three before, especially... _that_." And there, he pointed at Oswald, who simply frowned and crossed his arms again. At least he was taking it better than the Queen had...

"I'm Kairi," Kairi introduced, bowing slightly before the man, before gesturing to her friends. "This is Lea, and that's Oswald. We're here on a quest!"

"A quest!" the man exclaimed excitedly, seemingly bounding in excitement. "How wonderful! I am King Fergus, leader of the clan Dun'Broc, and King of Scotland!"

He bowed before Kairi, taking her hand and giving it a kiss. The act seemed to amuse Lea, who chuckled somewhat, but annoy Oswald, who simply sighed harshly, looking away.

King Fergus stood up, before turning Kairi to face the three annoyed men sitting together at one of the tables. "That's Lord Macintosh, Lord MacGuffin, and Lord Dingwall! And these people over here, are members of all four of our clans!"

"What's the occasion?" Lea asked.

"Why, the Highland Games! The eldest sons of the three Lords all compete for the hand of my daughter, Merida!" King Fergus explained happily, swinging on his pegleg a bit to turn around.

"She didn't agree though!" exclaimed one of the Lords, Kairi assumed he was Macintosh. "She stormed into the archery game, shooting a perfect score, and then ran off!"

"She embarrassed us! Especially since _my son _won the games!" added Dingwall, pointing to a rather dull looking boy sitting with two other boys.

"Aye," sighed King Fergus. "My wife's looking for her right now. Why don't you three join us? If you're on a quest, surely you need to relax for a moment! Sit right here, and we will serve you some fresh food and drink!" Here, he pushed the three toward a surprisingly sudden empty table, even lifting Oswald into a seat and holding out a chair for Kairi, leaving Lea to sit himself down. King Fergus then limped his way back toward the front of the room, swinging himself again to face the crowd. "Let the good men of the Highlands entertain you weary travelers " King Fergus declared, holding out his arms toward the crowd, who all cheered, save for the three Lords and their sons.

He then turned to his men, who rushed up to him.

"Let's bring out another bear!" he ordered, and the men turned to a stack of stuffed bears, lifting one up and bringing it over to him. "That's good, that's good. A wee bit to the left... That's good!"

Kairi was confused by this, and turned to Lea and Oswald. "What is he going to do?"

While she asked her question, they were suddenly surrounded by a number of maids bringing in a large amount of meat based foods, placing the serving trays onto the center of their table, and setting plates before the three of them. Lea gave a look of happiness at the sight and began piling a number of the offered food onto his plate, while Kairi helped herself as well.

"Honestly speaking?" Oswald asked in reply to Kairi's earlier question, appearing sick at the sight of all the meat and pushing his plate away from him. "I have no idea."

"Maybe he's going to maim it!" Lea proposed, directing their attention to the massive mane of bear fur hanging off King Fergus' back. After he had stated his suggestion, he bit hard down onto a chicken wing, already digging in.

"Well, that _would _be entertaining..." Oswald agreed, causing both of them to chuckle darkly at the idea of watching the big king beating down on a stuffed bear.

Kairi huffed out of annoyance of the boys' actions, looking away, before blinking in surprise. "Hey, look... It's the Queen, and she's with someone!"

The two of them gave her odd looks before seeing what she was talking about - the Queen being helped across the room by a girl in a ruined dress with curly red hair. The King didn't appear to notice their entrance, as he was too busy still directing his men on wear to place the stuffed bear.

"It's good enough!" the King suddenly declared, adding, "Now clear out of there, boys. I don't want you to spoil my shot."

"What?" stated the Lord Macintosh. It became clear to them that the Lords had noticed as well, and Kairi turned to watch them.

"My lady Queen," stated another Lord, sitting up.

The three of them stood up abruptly from their seats, rushing over to the Queen who was now ascending a set of stairs, still being aided by the girl.

"We've been waiting patiently," Lord MacGuffin continued.

At this point, Kairi, Lea and Oswald had stood up from their seats and rushed over as well, Oswald making sure to keep his distance.

"Milords," the Queen began, sounding awful. She turned around to face the crowd, letting go somewhat of the girl and placing a hand to her stomach, "I am out of sorts at the moment... But, you shall have your answer."

And then she burped, everyone present jumping slightly at the sudden outburst.

"... Presently," the Queen added.

The red haired girl gave everyone an awkward smile.

"Now, if you'll" - and here, the Queen groaned - "... excuse us."

As the two of them turned and continued up the stairs, the King had knocked an arrow to a bow and shot it toward the stuffed bear, getting the arrow right into one of the nostrils. Those that hadn't been watching the Queen cheered at the shot.

The King had now noticed his wife and gestured to his shot. "Elinor, look!" With a laugh, he added, "It's Mor'du!" However, noticing the weak wave she gave in return, he quickly changed his attitude. "Elinor?" he called out, "Are you all right, dear?"

"Fine," the Queen weakly called out, "I'm fine. Go about avenging your leg. Oh..."

The red haired girl continued leading her away, out of sight.

"Aye!" King Fergus replied, turning back to his visitors. "You heard her, lads!" he called out now to the crowd of clansmen. "I _dream _about the perfect way to make this devil die!" With this, he took an ax from a nearby man and turned to the stuffed bear.

Kairi, Lea and Oswald watched in anticipation.

The King swung the ax, getting it right in the bear's noggin.

"AYE!" hollered the crowd.

The Lords sighed and returned to their table, each looking as annoyed as the next. Lea turned to Kairi and nudged her a bit.

"I think there might be something big going down soon, maybe even a war between this guy and those three. We should probably leave," he told her.

"We can't. We haven't even seen any Heartless yet," she noted, crossing her arms. The three of them were making their way back to the table, taking their seats once again, Oswald slightly struggling with his. "I think we might have to find a way to leave the party we've been invited to. I think I saw a forest outside."

"You did," Oswald replied, finally sitting up properly. He pushed another offered plate of meat toward Lea, who was more than happy to oblige. "It's probably where they're hiding for the moment."

"How long do you think before they decide to cram themselves in here?" Lea asked, as a sudden swell of cheers erupted around them. He picked up another piece of meat, preparing to eat it. "There's so many people here, so many hearts... Not to mention three Keyblade users, and Keyblades are practically beacons for Heartless, aren't they?"

Lea and Kairi found themselves turning to Oswald, who gave a dark look and a nod. The three of them grew quiet at this and lowered their heads, as one more loud cheer sounded through the entire hall. Kairi and Lea just continued to eat their meat in silence, as the maids continued to bring more by them, one maid trying to get Oswald to eat at least one piece by constantly placing a plate of it before him. Each time, he simply pushed it toward Lea, or sometimes Kairi. By the time Lea had his fill, the stuffed bear was completely pilfered with weapons that the King had thrown at it.

The entire party was suddenly interrupted by a sudden roar sounding from somewhere in the castle above them.

"Shh, did you hear that?" the King stated, sniffing the air above them. "Something's not right."

Kairi and Lea, who had been helping themselves to the drinks they had been offered, gave each other concerned looks. Lea then turned to Oswald, he had his face in his arms, his plate still pushed away and empty after all this time. Nudging him, Lea had gained his attention and both stood up as Kairi swung herself off her bench seat, standing up quickly.

"Your majesty!" Kairi exclaimed, rushing to the King's side. "My friends and I, we'll look into it!"

Clearly Lea and Oswald had gone to the same conclusion that Kairi had, as they rushed to her side immediately. If there was Heartless in the castle, then they had to be the ones to fight them, as their weapons were the only ones to be able to even injure a Heartless. Lea put on a brave face, Oswald crossed his arms. Kairi tried to look as daring and determined as she possibly could, as the King glanced down at her.

"Well, you can _help_ but I need to go with you!" the King declared, before sniffing the air some more. "Everybody, follow me." He limped toward the same set of stairs the Queen and the girl had gone up before, turning to point at Kairi, Lea, Oswald, and the others. "... And keep a sharp eye." He then continued his surprisingly fast pace up the steps.

Kairi and Lea shared a determined look, before following him, Oswald at their heels.

"Here we go. _Another_ hunt through the castle," stated Lord Dingwall.

Lord MacGuffin was angry at this development. "But we haven't had dessert yet!"

* * *

King Fergus led the way through the castle with everyone following close behind. Kairi, Lea and Oswald didn't dare reveal their weapons yet, but Kairi was itching to. It seemed like every shadow they so much as _saw _seemed to move in this old castle of stone. She stayed close to Lea and Oswald, not planning to even so much as leave Lea's shadow. It wasn't that she didn't trust the people that followed King Fergus, it was the other three Lords that she didn't like.

Lord Dingwall stepped up to be next to King Fergus, stepping past Kairi with a huff. "Another one of your entertainments to bore us to death!" he declared.

Lord Macintosh came up beside him, almost stepping on Oswald. "Oh, and what exactly are we after... _my liege?_"

Kairi _really _wanted to step on his foot. She looked down at the almost bare pair of feet, with only sandals to protect them from her big running shoe. It was so tempting...

The tall Lord MacGuffin pulled the other two lords back before Kairi could _accidentally _step on Lord Macintosh's feet. "Best to humor him. He is, after all, the King."

King Fergus took no notice of this conversation, still sniffing through the air. He turned sharply to his left, down a passage that was dark and dreary. Kairi gulped at the sight of it.

"So, are we heading down there, then?" she asked, as the group followed the King down the hall. Oswald held one of her legs, pressing himself against her to avoid getting stepped up by the much taller men.

"He's a like a dog, with that nose..." Lea decided to point out.

They all watched as the King lowered himself down to the floor, scrape a finger across it, lick the finger, then spit. Kairi covered her mouth, trying hard not to gag. A sudden clattering noise alerted them, and the King righted himself immediately. "Follow me," he stated, leading the way down another hall. Everyone gave groans and obeyed his orders.

"How much longer do you think this is going to go on?" Lea wondered, already reaching his limit on how much fun this was. "I just want to skip to the part where we bash someone's head in."

"Don't wish the entire thing away," Oswald sneered, with his arms still wrapped around Kairi's leg like a child. "The _chase _is the fun part."

Someone suddenly came screaming down another hall, meeting with them at the intersection. She stopped when the King suddenly had a sword pointed across her neck. With surprise, he blinked at her.

"Maudie!" he stated. He lowered the sword and held out a hand to her carefully, as she breathed heavily. "Just calm down, lass. What is it?"

Everyone leaned forward, wanting to hear the news. Kairi gulped. Lea stepped forward. Maudie only stuttered, her eyes wide with shock and fear.

Finally, Lea couldn't take it anymore. "Just spit it out!" he yelled, grabbing her.

Maudie shouted, "A **_BEAR_**!"

King Fergus tore the maid from Lea's hold, slamming her away from them into the stone wall harshly. He stepped forward, holding his sword tightly in his hands. "I**_ KNEW_ **IT!" he yelled loudly, running down the hall.

He was followed shortly after by the others, Kairi, Lea and Oswald pressing themselves against the wall in order to avoid being stepped on.

"Come on!" Lea exclaimed, pointing down another hall. "This way!"

The three of them rushed down it, working to avoid the entourage of war-hungry men. The tore across the stone into another hall, avoiding the sound as best as they could.

"We have to find a way out of here, we have to find the Heartless!" Lea told them, whipping out his Keyblade. "Now we know a bear's in the mix, that's just great..."

"What if the _bear _is the Heartless?" Kairi offered, summoning her own. Oswald had since let go of her and brought out his. "That maid did seem flustered... She could have been mistaken."

"I'm pretty sure no dark creature looks like a bear so much that it could be mistaken for one," Oswald provided somewhat helpfully.

They stopped when they found themselves up against the red head from earlier, who was creeping around the castle, calling out the word "Mum?" softly. All three immediately let go of their Keyblades, allowing them to disappear completely from view before she could turn around and see them. She had, however, heard the sounds of the Keyblades making themselves scarce, and she turned at the source of the chimes.

"Oh!" she voiced, facing the three of them. "Who're you?"

"Uuuuhh... Guests of the King?" Lea offered, standing tall. "I'm Lea."

"Well, _that's _an odd name."

"I'm Kairi!" Kairi voiced.

"That's not so odd."

Oswald crossed his arms and frowned. "Oswald."

"That is also odd... and what are you supposed to be...?" the girl asked, poking him lightly in the shoulder.

Oswald led out an exasperated sigh. He was getting really tired of this. He snapped, "A _rabbit_. What are _you _doing creeping around the castle when there's a bear out and about?"

"It's not a bear! It's my mum! A witch gave me a gammy spell..." the girl tried to explain, but she was cut off almost immediately by Lea.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... you _changed your mom _into a _bear_?"

"_It's not my fault!_" the girl insisted. "I wanted a spell that would change my mum so she wouldn't force me to be married! Instead, she gave me a cake that turned my mum into a bear when she ate it!"

"So, I'm guessing you're Merida?" Oswald spoke up.

Kairi nodded in agreement, adding, "The King told us about you, about how you took part in the games and got a perfect score, and then ran off..."

Merida only appeared offended. "Look, I have to find my mum, or she's going to be attacked by my father, I don't want to waste my time fighting with _you_."

Kairi waved her hands in defense. "Oh, no, no! That's not what we want, either! We want to _help_."

Merida didn't seem to believe them, and she huffed, aggravated. Sudden noises from the nearby room, though, gained her attention and she swung the door open.

The four of them were greeted by the sight of a bear conducting a set of three identical boys as they placed trophies of stuffed deer heads onto to the wall. The bear was the odd part in this sequence, as it was standing on its hind legs, its front ones crossed much like Oswald's favourite position, and it was wearing a crown on its head. It took Kairi a moment to recognize it as Queen Elinor's, and make the connection.

"Is that... your mom?" she asked Merida, turning to look at her.

"Yes, and those wee devils are my brothers - Harris, Hamish, and Hubert..." Merida muttered in annoyance. She then stepped forward, entering the room.

The three boys noticed her appearance, and one gestured to the bear questionably. Everyone then turned to the bear, who gestured to the boys with the exact same expression, just, on a bear.

Kairi, Lea and Oswald looked at Merida.

"A witch turned Mum into a bear. It's not my fault," Merida explained to the boys, stepping forward some more. Oswald shook his head in annoyance at her insistence on this. Ignoring him, Merida continued, "We've got to get out of the castle. I need your help."

The boys crossed their arms.

"Oh, all right," Merida sighed. "You can have my desserts for two... _three _weeks."

"What on earth...?" Kairi muttered.

"Brothers," Oswald mentioned knowingly. "It's what they do."

The middle boy was unimpressed. He waved his hand toward him in a mock, "Give me that" gesture.

"Okay," Merida agreed. "Fine. A year."

The boys on the left and right turned to the middle one, who nodded, impressed. As soon as he had, the other two nodded with smiles. It was a deal.

Lea had one thing to say about the entire one-sided conversation. "What just happened?"

* * *

Two of the boys had taken a broken pot, a stick, and a roast chicken. The one with the stick stuck the chicken onto it, and waved it. The shadow that it created along the wall somehow resembled a bear with its claws up. When the other roared into the broken pot, the sound of his voice echoed into a loud, bear like roar. The two of them ventured out into the halls, and easily distracted the angry Scots throughout the castle with what Kairi had to say was the _best prank **ever**_.

The two boys were _ninjas_. Using secret passage ways and their small size to their advantage, they could end up almost anywhere throughout the castle. Their constant position changes was leaving their father flustered and running throughout the castle, his sword brandished and at the ready.

She unfortunately couldn't stay to see the aftermath, as she had other business to attend to.

"We're going to be heading this way," Merida told them, showing Kairi the door. She had taken a moment as the boys had planned out their escape to change out of her ripped dress into a more loose, royal green one, as well as grabbing a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Are you going to be coming with us?"

Kairi gave a nod. "What we came for. It's out in the forest, we're sure of it."

Merida gave a nod and turned to the last brother, who stayed by her side. He led the way to the kitchens, and slowly opened the door. Unfortunately, there was no safe way through. Maudie from before was there, with two other maids.

"Spit it out, Maudie!" claimed one maid, but Maudie kept hyperventilating. "Oh, for Heaven's sake, Maudie...!"

Then, from the chimney, came barreling a dark creature covered in soot with a yell, standing up dramatically with a roast chicken on its head! It grabbed the lower legs of the chicken and dramatically shook them, scaring off all three of the maids from the kitchen effectively, Maudie screaming.

Content that they were gone, Harris waved Merida and the others through, holding the door open for them.

"Come on, Mum. Quick," stated Merida.

While Queen Elinor had hit her head against the door frame with a bear groan, the others stepped through with ease, the only trouble being Oswald tripping on his own foot. Elinor then fell down the stairs, crashing into soup pots and barrels, landing on her back. When she stood up, she banged against hanging frying pans, finally situating herself in the center of the room.

"Might want to be careful," stated Lea softly as he came up beside her. Kairi stepped up to him and elbowed him.

The three boys gathered together excitedly, giggling loudly as they spun around with each other, displaying themselves to their bear mother, as if proud of their actions. The middle one then sneezed, a long line of snot hanging off his nose, causing the one on his left to laugh and the one on his right to be clearly grossed out.

Merida opened the door to the outside, waving the others out. Elinor, however, whined at the sight of the boys, clearly worried.

"They'll be fine," Merida stated, grabbing hold of her mother's arm. "Won't you, boys?"

Kairi turned to them, worried herself. Oswald crossed his arms, shaking his head some more.

The middle one waved off the worry, sniffling in his line of snot.

"Mum, we've got to hurry," declared Merida, pushing her out the door. Once Kairi, Lea and Oswald had rushed out the door, Merida stuck her head through it as she prepared to close it. "Now, I'll be back soon. Go on and help yourself to anything you want, as a reward."

Then, the door was shut.

* * *

Merida led the way through a dark forest, the crickets of the night chirping away as a background noise for them all to listen to, aside from Elinor grunting and groaning along the way. Kairi kept a close eye out for anything that was possibly out of place, worry filling up inside of her as they stepped along the grass and moss.

"Where are those wisps?" Merida muttered as the group came along a circle of large stones. "Come on, wisps!"

"Are you sure it was here?" Kairi spoke up, as she walked along, looking up at the tall rocks around them.

"I was standing right here," Merida gestured to the ground, "and the wisp appeared right over there," and she pointed a bit further away, "and then a whole trail of them led me out into the forest!"

Elinor, still standing tall and regal even as a bear, shook her head at the idea. She then sauntered away, heading down one of the many paths that led deeper into the forest. Kairi, Lea, Oswald and Merida watched her in disbelief at her actions.

"Oh, does she think we're on a nature walk?" Oswald scoffed, crossing his arms and tapping one of his big feet onto the grass. "_Heartless _are out there."

The four of them followed the Bear Queen as she continued to step idly across the grass throughout the forest, each one getting as agitated as the next that they were, of all things, following a Queen who was a _bear _and _unarmed_. She led the way through the forest up until Merida had recognized the landscape, and took over, bringing them to what appeared to be a cottage, claiming it to be the witch's hut. As she and Queen Elinor entered the cottage and Merida panicked about the witch not being home, Oswald took the opportunity to scout out the area, trying to find the Heartless.

Lea and Kairi noticed his slight edginess about the area, and this worried them.

"Is something wrong, Oswald?" Kairi asked.

"... There's a lot of darkness," he mentioned, feeling the grass. "Please tell me you feel that. I can't be the only one."

Lea, who had his arms crossed and was fidgeting slightly on his feet, shook his head. "No, I feel... _something_... I just can't identify it..."

Kairi appeared more concerned, putting her hands over her heart. "... I don't feel anything..."

Oswald looked up at her, giving her a worried expression for a moment. "You don't feel it because of all the light in your heart. It's too powerful for the darkness to try and penetrate it, let alone allow you to sense it like we do... You're just too pure and innocent."

Kairi's heart swelled at the words that he said, and a bit of anger crept in as she watched the rabbit turn back to the landscape, though she wasn't sure why. Was it from his words? The way that he worded it? Saying that she was 'too innocent' to feel the darkness around her? Despite her feelings, she still had to work together with them, so she joined Oswald and Lea as they stepped through the forest. Together, the three of them walked through the denseness, making sure to step on the moss carefully. Oswald led the way for as long as he could, until finally, he stopped, looking up at the sky, blinking tiredly and rubbing away at his eyes. Lea yawned and stretched for a moment, and Kairi found herself struggling to hide a yawn of her own.

"Hey, guys, I think we should call it a night..." Lea offered, sitting down by a tree. "No Heartless spotted, we lost track of the Queen and the Princess, and I'm getting pretty tired. I'm struggling to even stay _awake_..."

"Me too," Kairi yawned, sitting down herself. She shivered slightly in the cold weather, and rubbed at her arms, trying to get warm. "How about we camp out here...?"

Both of them could tell that Oswald was struggling with something to counter their arguments with, but he knew that he wasn't fooling anyone with his rubbing away at his eyes and trying to appear more awake than he really was. With a sigh, he sat down next to Kairi and wrapped his arms around himself. Lea shivered as well, giving a sigh of his own.

"... I hate the outfits that we were forced to wear coming here," he pointed out. "This skirt thing is stupid, the armor's uncomfortable, and we had to practically tear your dress apart."

Kairi giggled slightly, looking down at her shorter and wider than average dress. "Oswald did a pretty good job at widening it, though. I think it looks nice."

"I've had to reattach a sleeve before, so it was really nothing..." Oswald muttered, slamming his head against some moss to use it as a pillow. "... It wasn't my best job..."

"Couldn't tell," Lea chuckled. "It looks really well done." At this, he yawned, laying down himself. "Well, good night everyone. Let's hope we have better luck in the morning."

Kairi laid down on her back, and then she curled up on her side, yawning as well. From where she was, she was in between Lea and Oswald quite nicely, almost like they were being her bodyguards in the wild wilderness of the Highlands, protecting her from the Heartless that was, for whatever reason, avoiding them throughout their stay.

She considered, while she waited to fall asleep, on why the Heartless hadn't even been seen yet. Was it because her light was too strong, that she had weakened them? Oswald had said that she was pure, innocent... maybe they didn't want to attack yet. Regardless, they had to attack at some point, because Kairi needed to seal the Keyhole here and destroy whatever it was that Oswald and Lea were able to sense... that large amount of darkness further in the forest where they were headed.

She hoped they were successful. She didn't want Merida or Queen Elinor to lose their world, especially with what had happened with Elinor. She wanted to help, as best as she could.

And with that, she yawned, tightened up her curl, and fell asleep.

* * *

"Kaiiiiriiiii..."

Poke, poke.

"Kaaaaiiiiiriiiii..."

Poke, poke.

"For goodness sake's, Lea, just let her sleep..."

Poke, poke.

"No way! We have to get moving!"

Kairi blinked her eyes open, looking around to see herself surrounded by trees, and Lea holding a stick, poking her lightly, with Oswald behind him with his arms crossed and a foul expression on his face. She sat up, giggling slightly at the sight, before stretching a bit.

"Good morning, Lea, Oswald!" she greeted.

"Mooooorning!" Lea replied, throwing the stick off to his left. "We're going Heartless hunting, Kairi! Want to join?" He then burst into laughter, as Oswald's palm met his face in the background. "We can feel them moving about, just a bit over to... that way!" Here, he pointed behind her, gesturing to a darker part of the forest. "Something biiiig's going to go down that way."

"We should probably get going, then!" Kairi stated, standing up and smiling at them.

* * *

Their journey through the forest led them to the ruins of an old castle, run down and destroyed, and streaming with Heartless as they wandered about the collapsed stone. The group looked on in slight horror as they watched the Shadows and Neoshadows swarm across the destroyed ruins, and none of them dared to move yet, for fear they would be absolutely bombarded and ambushed.

Lea suddenly cried out, pointing with a shaking hand toward one black creature in the distance, looking down into a hole and appearing very worried. "Isn't that the Queen? What's she doing here?!"

"Doesn't she see the danger?" Kairi asked in return.

Oswald's only response was bringing forth his Keyblade. "I think it's high time the three of us stop sitting around, waiting for something to happen. I know we're not supposed to interfere and all that, 'World Order' and all that crap, but there's no way I'm letting someone's heart get eaten out."

The three charged forward, slashing at all the Heartless that they could, Oswald even using a powerful Thundaga as soon as he was swarmed. The battle raged on, but not for long, as the three working together were able to destroy all that came in their way.

In the brief wake, Kairi stepped forward and placed a hand on the bear, saying, "Your majesty, we should get going..."

A roar came from below them, and the Queen, ignoring Kairi, responded in such.

Struggling came from the room, and more roars erupted. The voice of Merida sounded as she gasped, and Elinor reached a paw forward in fear, and pulled Merida out from the ground. Just as she emerged, an even larger bear, disturbing and littered with weapons gaping in his back hide, broke through the stone.

"What is _that?!_" Lea exclaimed.

"Mor'du!" Merida told them. "It's Mor'du!"

"The _darkness!_" Oswald called out, in a panic. "The _darkness _coming from that... that **_thing_**!"

He gripped his chest where his heart was, gasping for a moment before readying himself, holding his Keyblade backhand. He stumbled in his stance, clearly in pain, but he tried to stay strong. Kairi sprang up beside him, and Lea on his other side, all three in battle positions and ready. Merida came up beside Kairi, notching an arrow onto her bow, and she told them this:

"It will take a lot to bring him down, my arrows do nothing! But if we try, we can hold him back long enough for us to escape!"

"As long as we have a plan!" Lea called back, and together, all four charged.

The first thing that happened was Merida let loose her arrow, which pierced right in the left shoulder of Mor'du, who kept charging forward despite the sudden attack. Kairi then slashed her Keyblade across one of his legs, but he simply pushed her away, only to be bombarded with the Fira magic coming from Lea. The beast roared in reply of this attack and raised himself up onto his hind legs, slamming them down on the ground and creating a vibration and a shock wave powerful enough to knock them all down on the ground for a short period of time.

Queen Elinor called out with a whine, worried for her daughter, who stood back up again and notched another arrow, even though she knew they were doing nothing. Oswald now stood up, raising his Keyblade high in the air, and let loose a Thundaga, all the energy concentrated and aiming for Mor'du, who was now approaching the still knocked down Kairi.

"Step another paw close to her, _beast_, and you'll find out how dangerous I _really am_," Oswald taunted, his face scrunching up in a dangerous frown.

The cursed bear was not amused by this threat, and he barreled forward toward the rabbit, who readied his Keyblade and smacked the bear's face with it as soon as he was close enough. The bear was knocked to the side, but he stood back up, giving out another roar, attempting to intimidate. Lea stepped in, teaming up with Kairi.

"Kairi!"

"Lea!"

"Let's do this!"

Together they held each other's hands, holding up their Keyblades, and they were surrounded by a circle of intense fire and light, which pulsed from them in a a large ripple, hitting the bear and knocking him back some more. They lowered their Keyblades and the magic light and fire disappeared. With smiles, they turned to face each other and high-fived.

"Yeah!"

"That was awesome!"

"It's coming baaaaack!" called out Merida, letting lose her notched arrow at the bear once again.

As the bear was momentarily distracted by a sudden thrown rock courtesy of Oswald, Queen Elinor burst forward and lowered herself for Merida to hop on. She turned back to Kairi, Lea and Oswald, and held out her hand.

"Come on! We have to escape!" she told them.

"But what about that thing?" Kairi asked. "It's what we came for, we have to destroy it! It's darkness is too powerful for this World to handle, and we can't just leave it..."

"Who knows what all this Heartless can do if we don't take care of this _now!_" Lea argued as well.

"We'll come back for it!" Merida replied, her tone fast and sharp. "We have to go! We do not have the means to destroy it right now...!"

"She's right, that thing is too powerful for us alone," Oswald intervened, taking Merida's hand and being hoisted up immediately. "Let's go, Kairi!"

As soon as Kairi and Lea were aboard, Queen Elinor raced off, just as Mor'du had realized the thrown rock was a decoy. She raced on, hoping to escape the beast, not even paying attention to where she was going, and soon, before she realized it, a stone slab from the circle of stones was suddenly revealed in the fog to be in her way and she crashed into the ground in an attempt to stop.

The Queen hit the rock, and it shook. Everyone stopped and waited, hoping that it wouldn't fall over, on top of them. When nothing occurred, they all let out gasps of relief, looking around and trying to see through the sudden fog around them. The fog, just as quickly as it had arrived, disappeared, and they all stood up.

"Mum," Merida began, looking up at her mother, "We need to get back to the castle. If we don't hurry, you'll become like Mor'du. A bear!" She paused, realizing how silly that sounded, and corrected herself. "A real bear. Forever!"

"After all that trouble getting _out_?" Lea laughed.

"The witch was not there," Merida answered, turning to face him now. "She left behind a message, to 'mend the bond torn by pride'. She gave us the answer. The tapestry."

"Tapestry?" both Kairi and Oswald voiced together, Oswald tilting his head in confusion to his right.

"What's that mean?" he finished.

Merida looked at them for a moment, clearly wondering if she should tell them, and looked down, clearly in shame, rubbing a hand along her arm. "I tore a tapestry, in the castle. We need to fix it!"

* * *

It was night.

Just outside of the castle, with a long string of tied together kilts leading the way up to a tower having been added to the decorations, a rock sat silently along to the side. Suddenly, Merida's head popped into view, followed by Queen Elinor's, Lea's, Kairi's, and Oswald's. They all watched the castle for a moment, seeing the guards walking along the top of the wall, protecting it from invasion. Merida and Elinor looked at each other, clearly trying to think of a way in without getting caught.

"This is going to be difficult," Lea muttered, wondering what to do. "It's like trying to break into a bank."

Queen Elinor, clearly distressed, backed away, shaking her head.

"Mum, do you have a better idea?" Merida asked, lowering herself down to her mother's eye level.

The Queen looked away for a moment, before her eyes suddenly widened.

Oswald crossed his arms, smirking. "I think she just came up with one."

The Queen led them below a bridge that was littered with guards walking along with it torches and spears. Just below it was a gate of metal, water flowing out of it. The Queen, her bear claws tight around the bars, trying to yank it out. Merida looked up at the bridge with worry, as Lea, Kairi and Oswald kept a lookout.

Finally, after a few moments of straining, the Queen was able to pull out the gate - entirely. She looked at it in surprise for a moment, Lea even giving an applause, Oswald blinking in stunned silence, and Kairi giggling.

Merida snorted. "That'll do."

The path that the Queen led them along led to the bottom of a well, and in the distance, the group could hear the chatter of guards walking by it. Slowly, they all climbed up the rope and climbed out, and then traversed across the field and toward a door that led into the castle.

Shouting could be heard in the distance, coming from the main mess hall.

"Aw, geez, is that party _still _going on?" Lea voiced in surprise, his voice barely above a whisper. "... I wonder if the drinks are still being offered."

"There's no way a party lasts over a day," Kairi stated, not believing it for a second.

Oswald, however, had a look of worry on his face, his hat off his head and ears pointed up, straining to hear. "That's not party shouting."

Everyone present turned to look at him.

"Then what is it?" Merida asked.

"... That's _battle _shouting..."

Rushing over to the doors leading to the mess hall and opening them slowly revealed the King and the three Lords had separated and divided the room into four forts, using the tables as a means of defense. Everyone from the three Lords' groups were letting loose arrows and spears toward King Fergus', who rose tall and defended his people with pride. Kairi's eyes widened at the sight, not believing it for a moment before she gasped out and backed away.

"No more talk!" called out Lord MacGuffin, brandishing a long sword, his son standing by his side. "No more traditions!" He slashed his sword through the air, declaring, "We settle this now!"

"You're the _KING_," called out Lord Macintosh, pointing out a javelin. "_YOU _decide which one of our sons your daughter will marry!"

An ax was suddenly embedded in the table before him, and he looked down with a sudden face of panic.

"None of your sons are fit to marry my daughter!" declared King Fergus with his voice loud and taking out his sword, which was actually quite small. Kairi noticed that arrows were piercing from the shield he carried with his left arm, and she wondered just how long this battle had been going on, and he used it to block out a spear coming from...

"Then our alliance is over!" stated Lord Dingwall. "This means _WAR!_"

His son at his side suddenly shouted in panic, and they all ducked as a sudden barrage of arrows came streaming toward them, save for one tall and tanned man with large muscles, who caught the arrow heading to him.

More shouting came from everyone, and Merida closed the door in a panic.

"They're gonna murder each other," she said out of worry, turning to the others. She faced her mother straight on, almost begging, "You've got to stop them before it's too late!"

The Queen stood up on her hindlegs, and gestured to herself for a moment, whining a bit.

"Your mother's right, Merida," Oswald brought up, stepping up to her and pointing at her. "How can she do that? Right now she's a bear!"

"I know, I know!" Merida exclaimed, looking between both of them. More shouting came from the mess hall behind her. "But how do we get my mum through there and up to the tapestry with the lot of them boiling over like that?"

Her mother shrugged, groaning a bit.

"I don't know," Lea voiced, and Kairi sighed, trying to think it over.

"Oh!" Merida exclaimed.

"What about you?" Oswald asked, just as the Queen pointed at her with a claw.

Merida gained a brave look, and opened the door, stepping through the chaos with Kairi, Lea and Oswald at her heels, and toward her father. While the three of them had looks of nervousness, concern, and worry on them, Merida's was completely blank, with a hint of annoyance, and just the sight of her and her look caused the Three Lords and their men to absolutely stop and _gape_.

She stepped up all the way to her father, who looked at her with a look of bewilderment, as the dogs near him simply panted, as if the battle had been entertainment instead of a threat.

"What are you doing, lass?" he asked her, lowering his sword and shield.

Merida turned around, Kairi, Lea and Oswald stepping so that they were behind her. "It's all right, Dad," Merida told him.

She turned and faced the three Lords and their men, and cleared her throat. "I, um... I have... Well, you see, I..."

She hesitated, and looked to face Kairi, Lea and Oswald for a moment, who all gave her looks of encouragement. With a new look of bravery, she turned to face the Lords again, and tried once more.

"I have been in conference with the Queen," she stated, her voice loud and clear, projected to the point of being able to hear her throughout the entire room.

Lord Dingwall climbed over his barricade of tables, saying, "Is that so?"

"Aye," Merida replied simply, "It is."

Lord MacGuffin took his turn now, pushing his out of the way. "Well, where is she, then?"

Kairi nervously looked ahead of them, seeing the Queen poking her head out from the door, looking toward the stairs.

"She, uh..." began Merida.

Lord Macintosh hopped down from the perch he had taken on top of his table. "How do we know that this isn't some trick?"

"I'd never...!"

Lord Macintosh threw his arm in the air. "This is highly irregular!"

"What are you playing at?" asked Dingwall.

"Where is the Queen?" demanded MacGuffin.

The three of them advanced on Merida, who backed away into Lea's arms, Kairi and Oswald stepping up to her sides, as her father readied his weapons once again behind them.

Lord Macintosh shook a fist, now. "We will not stand for any more of this jiggery-pokery!"

"That's right!" Dingwall agreed. "Let's see her!"

Merida had finally had enough. Breaking free of Lea's hold, she stepped forward once, and screamed, "**_SHUT_ IT!**" into the entirety of the room to such a volume that Oswald had grabbed his ears in a panic and flung backwards from where he was, down onto the ground, tugging on his long and ringing ears.

It wasn't just him, either. The three Lords backed away instantly, the room silenced, Merida's dogs whined and hid behind the tables, King Fergus _laughed_, and Lea had let out a, "Geez..."

Kairi, meanwhile, smiled. "Good work, Merida!"

Merida acknowledged Kairi for a moment, before turning a glare toward the three Lords, and cleared her throat some more. "Well, I, uh..."

She stopped at the sight of her mother slowly tiptoeing her way across at the back of the room. Queen Elinor urged her on as she continued her way. Macintosh, confused at the sudden worried expression on Merida's face, looked behind him, and Queen Elinor quickly gained the pose of some of the bear decorations of the room. He turned back, to Merida beginning his speech.

"Once there was an ancient kingdom."

"What is this?" demanded MacGuffin.

But Merida only continued. "That kingdom fell into war and chaos and ruin..."

"Och, we've all heard that tale," Macintosh complained. "Lost Kingdom."

"We haven't!" Kairi pointed out, clearly excited about hearing a new tale. Oswald, at this point, was getting back up onto his feet, rubbing his head and tugging at his ears at the sound of everyone complaining around him.

"Aye, and it's true," Merida stated, continuing. "I know now how one selfish act can turn the fate of a kingdom."

MacGuffin huffed, shaking his head. "Bah, it's just a legend."

Oswald stepped up, still tugging on his left ear. "Legends are lessons."

"Aye," Merida agreed with a smile, pointing at him, before turning her attention to the Lords before her. "They ring with truths."

The entire room silenced at this statement, and the three Lords straightened. Kairi clasped her hands together, a small smile on her face, and Lea crossed his arms, gaining a smirk. Oswald let go of his ears, and moved on to picking up the hat that had been knocked off his head when he had jolted.

"Our kingdom is young," Merida began, straightening her own stance. "Our stories are not yet legend. But in them, our bond was struck. Our clans were once enemies. But when invaders threatened us from the sea, you joined together to defend our lands. You fought for each other. You risked _everything _for each other." Now, she gestured to one of the Lords, saying, "Lord MacGuffin, my dad saved your life, stopping an arrow as you ran to Dingwall's aid."

"Aye," MacGuffing acknowledged, lowering his head, "and I'll never forget it."

"And Lord Macintosh," Merida said now, gesturing to the Lord, just as he was about to interrupt, "you saved my dad when you charged in on heavy horse, and held off the advance." Just as he was about to act like a hero, she turned to the last Lord, continuing. "And we all know how Lord Dingwall broke the enemy line."

"With a might throw of his spear!" shouted Macintosh.

Dingwall laughed. "I was aiming at you, you big tumshie!"

At this, everyone began to laugh at just the memories. Still, Merida continued. "The story of this kingdom is a powerful one. My dad rallied your forces and you made him your king." She turned to face her father now, and Kairi, Lea, Oswald and the Lords all gave him their attention as Merida continued on with her speech. "It was an alliance forged in bravery and friendship..." - she turned now to face her audience - "... and it lives to this day."

Cheers now erupted throughout the hall, and Kairi could see from where she was the Bear Queen, appearing more and more proud as she heard her daughter's speech.

Merida now lowered her head, putting her hands together. "But I've been selfish. I tore a great rift in our kingdom. There's no one to blame but me. And I know now that I need to amend my mistake and mend our bond. And so, there is the matter of my betrothal. I've decided to do what's right..." - and here, Kairi could see the Bear Queen now waving her arms erratically, trying to catch Merida's attention - "... and..."

Merida could see her. The Queen now lowered her arms, and began to mime, as Merida stated what she could see.

"... and... and... breeeak tradition."

And this declaration, the Lords all looked at one another, confused and muttering among one another as their sons approached from the front lines, trying to understand what was going on. Kairi and Lea shared confused looks as Oswald smirked and crossed his arms, his hat back where it belonged. Merida appeared just as surprised as the rest of them, looking down at her hands.

The queen began her motions again, and Merida translated. "My mother... the Queen, feels... uh, in her heart that I... that _we _be free to... write our own story... follow our hearts and find love in our own time."

Dingwall was close to tears, as he sniffled, "That's... beautiful."

"The Queen and I put the decision to you, my lords," Merida stated, smiling widely at this. Kairi found herself giggling. "Might our young people decide for themselves who they will love?"

"Huh?" Dingwall voiced.

"_Well_," Macintosh stressed, "since you've obviously made up your minds about this, I have one thing to say." He stepped forward a bit, in a bit of a swagger that made Kairi back up a bit. He pointed his finger up, clearly angry, and declared... "THIS IS..."

"A _GRAND _IDEA!" interrupted his son, of all people.

Everyone turned to him look at him, surprised.

"What?" Lea voiced.

"Give us our own say in choosing our fate," Young Macintosh said.

"What?!" his father blurted.

"Aye," said the dull looking Young Dingwall. "Why shouldn't we choose?"

His father sighed, "But she's the princess."

"I did not pick her out," Young Dingwall pointed out as his say. "It was your idea."

"And you?" Lord MacGuffin now said, turning to his own son. "You feel the same way?"

What happened next was as close to gibberish as Kairi had ever heard, listening to Young MacGuffin string out a word of incoherent phrases, though she was sure she heard the phrases, "Not fair" and "Good?" in all of it. Everyone in the room appeared to feel the same way, turning to each other and shrugging. Merida, however, giggled.

"Well, that settles it," MacGuffin began, "Let these lads try and win her heart before they win her hand! If they can!"

"I say the wee Dingwall has a fighting chance!" Dingwall bragged.

"Fine, then," Macintosh laughed, "Seems for once we agree. ... It was my idea in the first place."

After a moment of playful brawling, the three Lords all bowed before Merida, and Kairi, Lea and Oswald lowered themselves as well. King Fergus approached and patted her on the shoulder.

"Just like your mum," was what he said, with a laugh. "You devil."

She widened her eyes, however, at the sight of one of the guards lightly kicking her mother, who was once again pretending to be a bear ornament. "Uh... Everyone to the cellar!" she declared quickly, gesturing to the cellar door. "Let's crack open the King's private reserve to celebrate!"

At this, everyone in the room cheered, pointing their spears and weapons up in the air. The guard examining the Bear Queen turned at the news immediately, and with a smile, headed on his way. As the crowd moved toward the cellar, King Fergus laughed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." He turned to a maid, putting his fingers an inch away. "... Bring the _tiny _glasses..."

The maid nodded.

Just as everyone left, Merida shut the doors immediately, and turned to the room, seeing Kairi, Lea, Oswald and her mother waiting for her. She let out a laugh, and erupted in giggles and light, happy singing, as she practically skipped up to them.

"Oh!" she suddenly voiced, losing her smile. "The tapestry!"

Merida then led the way through the castle to a door and opened it, revealing the Tapestry room, the torn tapestry still hanging on the wall. The clean cut that showed its face separated the sewn Queen Elinor from the rest of the family, made clean between her, Fergus, and Merida. Merida felt the tear carefully.

She sighed. "Mend the bond..."

Kairi stepped up next to her. "Maybe..."

Just as Kairi had figured it out, Merida had as well, and they both looked at each other with smiles of recognition on their faces, repeating the phrase in unison. "Mend the bond!"

Oswald and Lea gave each other shrugs. Neither of them got it.

"Stitch it up!" Merida stated, "This'll change you back, mum! We just need needle and thread... "

"Where do you keep it?" Kairi asked.

Queen Elinor lifted up a paw, and turned to a chest that had a bowl with fruit on it. As the boys were standing next to it, they stepped out of the way as soon as Elinor approached, picked up the bowl, placed it on the table behind it, and lifted up the door to the chest. Her eyes glanced up at the bowl for a moment... and that was where everything changed.

A single growl from the Bear Queen was all Merida needed to turn around from tapestry to see her mother digging her snout through the bowl. Knocking it and the fruit off the table, the bear moved on to sniff at the apples.

"Mum? No... Not now!" Merida whined, "No. Please, not now!"

"This..." Oswald began, making sure to stay _clear _away from the Bear Queen, "... has happened before?"

"Yes!" Merida replied, "In the forest! When we were fishing at the stream!"

She approached the bear, who just sniffed at her like a curious animal. Kairi, Lea and Oswald watched, both upset and fearful at what was happening. One of Oswald's ears suddenly twitched slightly, shifting the hat on his head, and as he fixed it, he closed his eyes, listening closely.

"... Laughter..." he voiced. "There's... there's someone laughing outside..."

Merida then heard it, too, and quickly tried to shut her mother's mouth. "Oh!"

She peered out the window to see her father walking by, and gave a sigh of relief. She then turned to the tapestry, and furiously began to try and get it off the wall. Kairi and Lea moved on to help her, and together, they were able to get it down.

A storm was beginning, the thunder clashing outside and the rain pouring down.

Oswald's ears twitched again, and he turned quickly to the door. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Lea grunted, helping the girls with the tapestry. "Are you hearing things, Os?"

"My hearing's sharper than yours," Oswald snapped, before rushing to the door, ripping off his hat and pressing an ear against the door. "I heard your father, Merida... It sounded like your mother's name." There was a pause. "He's yelling down the hall, now... Sounds like he's running."

"_**ELIIIINOOOOORR!**_"

At this, Oswald burst away from the door, jumping away to the wall. And just in time, as King Fergus suddenly tore through it, swinging it open and entering the room in a run. The first thing that he saw was Kairi, Lea and Merida still trying to get the tapestry down.

"Merida!"

Then the bear growled, stepping forward toward the King. Merida went between them immediately, her arms spread out.

"Dad, no!" Merida yelled. "It's not what you think!"

"Merdia, get back!" King Fergus hollered, pushing his daughter behind him and onto the ground. He walked up to the beast, ready to slay it like he had done to so many bears before this one.

The bear growled, demanding a challenge, rising up to its full height as thunder sounded outside. Kairi and Lea tore out their Keyblades, worried that there was going to be a fight. Neither was sure who'd they'd be attacking, but they were prepared just in case. Oswald stayed against the wall patiently, clearly willing to let this play out for itself without interfering.

The King drew his sword, and yelled, charging forward to the bear. He slashed as the bear struck with its claws, Merida calling out in fear.

"No, Dad! Don't hurt her!" In desperation, she looked to Lea and Kairi, and the bear swiped at her arm, ripping through the fabric. "Please! Stop him!"

Lea turned to Kairi, pointing his Keyblade to the King. "You heard the Princess, _Princess_. Let's do this."

Kairi nodded in determination, as Oswald stepped up beside them, calling out his own Keyblade. "Right! Let's stop the King!"

The fight was three sided, and it was a hard one, Kairi found. With the bear willing to attack all those present, it was a chaotic force and unpredictable. King Fergus was mostly focused on the bear, but completely willing to attack the three Keyblade Wielders if he found them doing too much damage. The three bladers, meanwhile, were completely focused on the King, hoping to stop him from hurting the Queen any further.

Oswald mainly was a dodger, a decoy for the King to focus his energy to as Kairi and Lea charged up their Light and Fire attacks to knock the King out of the fight. The King's bear skin that hung off his back clearly protected him a good deal from magic - as nothing ever seemed to happen if it hit the cape. The bear, meanwhile, was all game for everyone, the only defense it seemed to had was that it repelled Light magic. Somehow. Kairi was still not sure why none of her attacks that missed the King yet hit the bear seemed to not do anything.

"Stay out of my way!" the King demanded, slashing at Oswald for about the umpteenth time, and missing, yet again. "You're a devil!"

Oswald slipped out of view, becoming just a shadow along the floor, and reappeared on the King's other side. Just as he did this, Kairi let loose a Keyblade strike to the King, trying to knock his head and hopefully knock him out. Lea spun out onto the King's other side, prepared to slash out at his peg leg, hopefully knocking it loose, as Oswald yet again zipped out of the way, waiting for his chance to once again play decoy.

Merida watched in horror throughout the entire fight, the Bear slashing now at Kairi who was there, and moving on to chew out Lea, who gave it a light knock with his Keyblade before running for cover. King Fergus slashed at it with his sword once more, before turning to Kairi, who had swiped at him. Oswald then distracted him before he could do anything, and Lea finally got him in the head, and just in time, as the black eyes that the bear had suddenly shifted and turned back into the Queen's only brown ones.

The bear backed away, startled and afraid, as Fergus lay on the ground, stunned and hurt. She stood up on her hind legs, surveying the scene, seeing Kairi and Oswald to her left with their Keyblades drawn, and Fergus and Lea on her right, Fergus on the ground and Lea standing tall yet backing away. Then, there was Merida, right in front of her with slash marks on the sleeve of her dress. Just at the sight, Queen Elinor whined, clearly feeling guilty.

Merida glanced at it, just as Elinor began to panic. "It's all right. I'm all right. It's nothing!" Merida said, trying to console her mother. "It's just a little scratch. Mum!" At this, the Queen burst from the room, leaving it entirely.

"We have to go after her!" Kairi realized, racing to the door's frame with Oswald at her heels. "We can't let those other three find her!"

"It's not just them," Oswald brought up as well. "There's their sons, and all those other men..." His ear twitched. "Oh... too late..."

"They found her!? Already?!" Lea exclaimed in shock, as King Fergus groaned.

"Dad!" Merida rushed to her father's side immediately, but whatever she wanted to say was cut off by her father.

As he got up and felt her hair, he said, "Count your stars, lass. It almost had you. Are you hurt?"

She stressed, "It's your wife, Elinor!"

"You're talking nonsense!" the King insisted.

"She's telling the truth!" Kairi intervened.

"Yes, yes!" Merida agreed, gesturing to Kairi, before turning back to her father. "There was a witch and she gave me a spell. It's not Mor'du."

"Mor'du or not, I'll avenge your mother!" At this, he sheathed his sword and tore his way past Oswald and Kairi, almost knocking them over in order to get through the door. "I'll not risk losing you, too!" He then slammed the door behind him, and locked it immediately. He looked through the hole in the door and glared at the three Keyblade wielders inside with his daughter. "You three, you protect her!"

"No, Dad!" Merida called out as her father walked away. "Listen! You can't! It's your wife Elinor!"

From down the hall, Oswald's ears picked up his voice. "... He's given the key to Maudie, he's saying not to let us out... She's asking about the bear... I can't hear what he said, those darned dogs are barking..."

Merida panicked. She looked behind her and picked up a chair, turning to the door blocking their way out. They all watched as she flung it, but only succeeded in breaking the chair. They then watched as she turned to the fireplace and picked up a fire pick, and jammed it into the door's hinges. She then attempted to knock the hinge off by trying to pry it off, but that idea didn't work, and so she moved on to using to try to pry the door itself off, but that only ended up bending the pick beyond use.

Oswald's ears then twitched again and he rushed to the window, looking out it. "Um, we have a problem."

"What kind of problem is worse than this?" Lea asked, rushing over to it as well. "Oh..."

Kairi and Merida shared worried glances before heading over as well, to see King Fergus on a horse, with a flaming torch, rallying the forces of all four of the clans to go on a bear hunt. Merida teared up at the sight.

"Mum!" she cried, "No..." She lowered herself down onto the window seat, weeping completely.

Kairi knelt down, placing a hand on Merida's shoulder. "... It's going to be okay... We'll get out."

"We have Keyblades," Lea pointed out, summoning his own Keyblade and resting it on his shoulder. "We can just unlock the door, and we'll be right out."

Oswald chuckled darkly at that. "True, we can just do that, but Maudie..."

Merida suddenly looked up, her eyes falling on the tapestry still on the wall. "Lea, Kairi, help me get it down."

Together, the three of them were able to finally get it down off the wall, and Merida then rushed to the door, calling out into the hall for Maudie. She suddenly stopped, however, at the sound of approaching footsteps, three sets.

"Oh, no..." she moaned.

"What?" Kairi asked, worried for a moment.

"It's my brothers. They ate the cake."

Lea laughed. "They're bears now, too?!"

"Maudie!" Merida suddenly called out, and for a moment there was silence, save for Maudie's sudden, worried gasp, probably from the sight of three little bear cubs. There was more silence, until Merida simply stated, "Get the key," and waited.

"I wish," Lea began, gaining the attention of the other three in the room, "that we could see that."

"We can ask them later!" Merida said, picking up a corner of the tapestry and glancing furiously around the room. "Needle and thread, needle and thread, needle and thread..."

They watched as she tore through the room, chanting it over and over, until she burst into the same chest that Elinor had gone through before, skimming through yarn before finally stumbling upon the needle that she needed, she showed it to the others, proclaiming, "Ah, pure beauty!"

"Now what?" Kairi asked, picking up one of the corners of the tapestry. "Your brothers aren't here, yet!"

"We work on this!" Merida ordered, ripping the corner from Kairi's hand and straightening the tapestry across the floor. She carefully, yet hurriedly, began to sew together the tear in the tapestry that she had caused, and the three Keyblade Wielders knelt down to watch her.

She was maybe halfway through when a high pitch growl suddenly sounded and everyone looked up at the window of the door to see a little bear paw holding up a key.

"Oh!" Merida voiced.

One complicated unlock of the door later, and the group was tearing through the hall of the castle, Merida dragging the tapestry along with her as they stormed down the stairs toward the mess hall, the brothers following behind them.

Their race across the stone floor was suddenly halted by the sudden appearance of Heartless.

"What the?!" Lea voiced, brandishing his Keyblade. "You guys go on ahead! I'll hold them off!"

"Lea!" Kairi called out in worry, but her hand was gripped into Oswald's as he yanked her away.

"Come on, _Princess of Heart_, we need you to protect us," he told her, leading her away toward the rest of the group. "Come on."

As they raced off, thoughts began to swirl inside of Kairi's head. Was it that obvious that she was a Princess of Heart? She didn't remember ever mentioning it to Oswald, that was for sure. Had Lea, maybe, when she hadn't been listening? How had he possibly known?

They raced out into the rain, Merida heading over to a black steed and jumping onto it, her brothers joining her. She gestured to another horse, this one grey, and told Kairi and Oswald to ride that one. Both quickly did as they were told and together, the two horses ran through the storm toward the chaos, each rider doing their best to avoid the Heartless that kept pouring in.

As they rode through the landscape, one brother held a lantern for Merida as she still continued to try and sew together tear in the tapestry while riding her horse. More Heartless arrived to stop them in their tracks, and as Kairi was about to panic, Oswald summoned his Keyblade, rose it in the air, and let loose a Thundaga, destroying most of them and enabling them to get through.

Merida and Kairi, commanding their horses, lept through the forest and over fallen trees as the rain began to let down and stop, leaving the ground a muddy and wet mess for them as they hurried to get there in time. As they continued on their way, Merida finally finished fixing up the tapestry, even proudly displaying it to Kairi and Oswald riding next to her.

"Done!" she squealed happily.

"Great!" Kairi replied, giving a smile of her own. "Now we just have to get there!"

Just as she had said that, a blue, floating flame appeared before them and the horses stopped. Everyone stared at it for a moment, as it sat there, giving out a strange call.

"What is that...?" Oswald moaned, tugging on his ears irritably. "It's voice... it's ringing in my ears..."

"It's a wisp," Merida answered.

They watched as another wisp appeared next to it, and then another, and another, leading up the hill and toward the circle of stones. From where they were, the group could see some of the men from the mess hall with torches and rope. Kairi frowned and Oswald groaned.

"I think we found our angry mob," he voiced.

"Aye," Merida agreed, and they continued on their way, following each of the wisps as they appeared.

All of them missed the low growl that sounded in the distance.

They arrived just on time, as King Fergus raised his sword, ready to slay the bear before him...

Only for his sword to be deflected and swung out of his hand by an arrow coming from none other than Merida, who jumped right off of her horse and notched another arrow onto her bow.

"Get back!" she ordered her father and everyone around, as Kairi and Oswald quickly flanked her, summoning their Keyblades into view. "That's my _mother_."

Together, the three of them stepped so they were standing in front of Queen Elinor, Merida not once letting her arrow free or loose.

"Are you out of your mind, lass?" King Fergus asked, completely confused.

Not even waiting for a reply, King Fergus swung his daughter into the arms of Macintosh, who held her in place with his spear. As he prepared to once again swing the sword into the bear's head, Kairi and Oswald pointed their blades right at his heart.

"One move, we _dare you_," Oswald sneered.

Merida, meanwhile, flung Macintosh over her, freeing herself, then kicked another man and stole his sword. The King pushed Kairi out of the way and swung his sword to hit Oswald, only for it to be deflected by Merida's stolen one.

"Merida!"

Together, the two Keyblade wielders and Merida tag teamed the King, deflecting blows and allowing Merida through to slash at the King's pegleg, cutting off the bottom half of it. This knocked him onto the ground, right on his back.

The three stood in front of the Queen again, Oswald fixing the hat on his head and gaining a sneer, as Kairi frowned, determined to win this. Merida put on a brave look, saying, "I'll not let you kill my mother."

Just like that, the triplet bears jumped onto the King, grunting angrily.

Merida simply ordered, "_Boys_."

They glanced at her, then got off the King, who exclaimed, "_Boys?!_"

"Oh, so _now _it kicks in that she's been telling the truth," Oswald moaned in annoyance.

A sudden thud in the distance caused everyone to turn to the source, to see a rather scary and disturbing sight. Mor'du himself began to step up to the fight, his back still littered with all the weapons of the past, and Merida's arrow still stuck in his side, sticking out. The bear angrily growled, before standing up on his hind legs, ready for a fight.

"Mor'du!" Merida backed up, frightened.

"_Gah!_" gasped Oswald, curling up and gripping his chest once more. "I _hate _this **_bear_**!"

"Kill it!" ordered the King.

All the men available charged forward with their weapons, but all of them were smacked away by the bear. More streamed in, only for the same thing to occur, and the third time it happened was only a repeat. King Fergus finally stepped up, joined by Kairi and Oswald with their Keyblades.

"Come on! I'll take you with my bare hands!" the King bragged.

Working together, the three of them tried their best to hold off the bear, Oswald obviously stunted but doing his best. The King was swung off to the side, but Kairi simply used a Blizzard spell to try and ward off the bear, as Oswald readied another Thundaga. As the King was now out of commission, Merida stepped in for his place in the battle, firing a few arrows to distract the beast as Kairi's Blizzard spell hit and Oswald's Thundaga was let loose.

Both attacks hit the bear and clearly did some damage, but not enough as it turned toward Merida and roared loudly. It knocked her to the ground and roared right in her face, causing her to scream in fear. Oswald prepared a spell to attack it, as Queen Elinor roared loudly and ferociously, escaping her bonds and standing tall to her height.

Queen Elinor had just joined the fight.

Oswald's Firaga spell was let loose, which caused Mor'du to roar loudly from the sudden burn, distracting it enough for Queen Elinor to tackle it off of Merida.

"Aw, geez," Oswald voiced, turning to Kairi. "I think we need to not get involved in this."

"Why?" Kairi asked, turning to face him, stopping the spell that she had been preparing.

Oswald turned to watch the intense bear fight that had commenced, both bears trading roars, growls, and slashes at each other, the Queen being absolutely dangerous. "Nothing gets between a mother trying to protect her child, Kairi. _Nothing_."

Both bears brawled with one another, Queen Elinor trying her best to keep Mor'du as far away from Merida as she possibly could. Kairi and Oswald backed away, Kairi getting absolutely frightened at the intensity of the fight that was occurring, as Mor'du was finally able to overpower Queen Elinor and press her against one of the rocks that surrounded them. It pushed her down into the ground, obviously preparing to kill her.

Kairi looked over across the circle, seeing the three triplet bears watching in fear as their mother was being attacked. As Elinor kicked Mor'du off of her, Kairi could see Young Macintosh helping his father up. As Mor'du and Elinor once again traded blows and attacks, and Mor'du flipped Elinor onto the ground and bit her, Kairi felt fear rise in her heart at the situation. Absolute fear. Terrified, she looked away, only to see King Fergus getting up and looking in panic. Mor'du swung Elinor around, flinging her into another stone panel.

Believing that the Queen was now out of the fight, Mor'du advanced once more onto Merida, who picked up a stray spear. Oswald, clearly deciding now was the time to intervene, stepped up in front of her, his Keyblade facing Mor'du. Kairi fearfully stood beside him, holding her own Keyblade close to her.

"Try that again!" Oswald declared to the bear. "I _dare you_!"

Both stood ready to destroy the bear, both ready to defend Merida if need be. Queen Elinor, however, had different plans, as she gripped the fur of the other bear and began to pull him back.

"Your majesty!" Kairi called out. "What are you doing?!"

Mor'du clearly had enough of that and turned and roared into Elinor's face, charging for her. She quickly moved out of the way, and instead, Mor'du hit the stone slab that had been behind her. Queen Elinor then repeatedly began to beat Mor'du into the stone, pushing him and pushing him, until he finally punched her away from him, and began to step forward. The stone slab, however, fell, and landed right on Mor'du.

"Oh my... gosh..." Kairi voiced out of surprise.

"Did... Did that just happen?" Oswald asked.

A blue ghost appeared from the stone slab, forming into the body of a man, big and strong. A keyhole appeared right in his chest, and Kairi, knowing what to do, let the light shine out of her Keyblade, and right into it. As soon as the unlocking was done, the ghost looked to Merida, and nodded, before he disappeared, replaced by a wisp, which flew away.

There was some quiet for a moment, until Merida finally remembered. "The second sunrise!"

She tore to her horse, and grabbed the tapestry. Rushing back to her mother, she placed the tapestry right onto her, then backed away.

... Nothing happened.

The sun shined some more, the light slowly making its way down the stone circle and toward them, and still, nothing happened.

"Why isn't it working?" Kairi asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Elinor looked up at Merida, and the kind look in her eyes disappeared, replaced by those of a bear. Merida, torn, sniffed.

"I don't understand. I..." She fell, right down on her knees, sobbing. "Oh, mum... I'm sorry..."

Kairi and Oswald slowly approached, sitting down beside her. Kairi gave her a small hug, while Oswald inched away from the bear, sitting closer to Merida.

"This is all my fault..." Merida sobbed. "I did this to you... To us."

"Sometimes our hearts make us do things that aren't right," Oswald spoke up, looking up at the bear. "Sometimes, even when we try to keep them filled with light and to stay pure, a little bit of darkness creeps in, and makes us do things that we _think _is the right thing, but it really isn't."

"Isn't that the truth..." muttered Merida.

"We always try to do things for those that we love, but sometimes that little darkness that creeps into our hearts leads us astray, and we end up hurting ourselves, and them," Oswald continued on. Kairi wondered for a moment if he was speaking from experience. "And we can try all we want, sometimes the hurt we cause is fixable... Sometimes it's not."

"And if it's not?" Merida sobbed. "What do we do then?"

Oswald's breath stuttered for a moment as he drew in a breath. "... We learn to live with it."

Merida wrapped her arms around the bear, weeping. "Oh, mum... You've always been there for me... You've never given up on me... I just want you back..."

Everyone present lowered their heads, unable to hide the tears or the sobs that this scene was causing them. Oswald stood up, reaching out a hand for Kairi, motioning that they had to give Merida some room. As they backed away, Lea emerged, looking as fine as ever.

And still, Merida sobbed. "... I want you back, Mummy... ... I love you."

Finally, the light shined down on Merida and the bear, hidden by the tapestry. Merida took no notice, as she only continued to cry at what she had done. That is, until an arm emerged from behind her red hair, and wrapped itself around her, in a loving hug. Merida, startled, shot right up, to be greeted by the site of Elinor, laughing.

"Mum!" Merida exclaimed. "You're back!"

As mother and daughter were reunited, Elinor showering her daughter with kisses, the entire crowd cheered. Kairi gave tears of happiness, as Lea wiped his forehead.

"So, I'm guessing you guys took down that bear?" he asked, looking around. "And without me! Come on, guys! I wanted a piece of that thing!"

"We didn't even get to do it," Oswald sneered, chuckling at him. "It was all the Queen."

Finally, King Fergus couldn't take it anymore, he limped up, his arms spread wide, exclaiming, "Eliiiinoooor!" He fell, but quickly righted himself, hugging his wife and daughter tightly in his hold. The three Keyblade Wielders smiled at the sight of the reunited family.

As they turned to walk away, content that they were done here, they were just in time to dodge a few streaking, naked triplet boys rushing to their family.

"I think we're done here," Lea decided with a laugh. "Did you guys get the keyhole?"

"Yep!" Kairi assured him. "We're off back to Radiant Garden, I guess!"

Oswald chuckled for a moment, before looking up at them. "Actually, there's a world close by, we could check that out, if you want."

Kairi and Lea cheered, as the three of them continued on their way.


End file.
